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FROM   A    PHOTOGRAPH    BY   A.    BONFILS.l 


PYLON    AT    KARNAK   (North   Side). 


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The  Night  of  the  Gods 

AN      INQUIRY       INTO 

COSMIC    AND    COSMOGONIC     MYTHOLOGY 
AND  SYMBOLISM 


.    By    JOHN    O'NEILL 


NYi  MXXJk  Mxi<|»H  xeec<|)XTOc 


Volume  I 


London 

Printed  by  Harrison  &  Sons   Saint-Martin's  Lane 
and 
Published  by  Bernard  Quariich    15  Piccadilly 

1893 


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\ 

\ 

\ 


t 


Qubd  St  non  hie  tantus  fructus  os tender etur,  et  si 
ex  his  studiis  delectatio  sola  peteretur ;  tamen,  ut 
opinory  hanc  animi  remissionem,  humanissimam  cu: 
liberalissimatn  Judicaretis,  At  hcec  studia  adolescen- 
tiam  agunty  senectutem  oblectant ;  delectat^  domi^  non 
impediunt  foris  ;  pernoctant  nobiscum^  peregrinantur, 
rusticantur  ; '  adversis  perfugium  ac  solatium  prcebent. 
—  Cicero  Pro  A,  Licinio  Archia poeta,  vii. 


ri\ii»iC.L/  ,\\  U..  t'h.' T'A.X'' 


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i 


^ 


1^ 


I 


Contents. 


Now  entertain  conjecture   of  a   Time 

when   creeping  murmur  and   the   poring   Dark 

fills  the  wide  vessel   of  the  Univ^se.        (Hm,  V.  \\\  i,  i , 


— Dlsputatio  Circularis            ,,.         ...         .,,  ,,.  ,..  5 

Axis     Myths, 

1.  The  Axis  as  Spear,  Pike,  or  Pal     .,,         ,.,  ,<-  .,.  51 

2.  The  God  Picus         ,,. _  _,  _,  40 

3.  Divine  names  in  Pal-           ..,         ,»,         ...  .,.  ,.,  43 

■                    4.  The  Rod  ^nd  Rhabdomancy          ...         ,„  , 52 

I                     5,  The  Fleur-de-Lis  at  the  Axis  point          ...  _.  .,  62 

I                     6.  The  Trident  ...         ,..                      „,         ..,  ,.,  ...  70 

7,  The  Aopv  and 'iVp7r?7  of  Kronos    ...         .*  ...  .,.  80 

8,  Divine  names  in  Harp-  and  Dor-  ,..         ...  ,.,  ...  89 

The  Stone. 

9,  Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites;  B^th-El5*..  ..,  ...  94 

(LtKLdslon^  96.— B^th-feu  ill.) 

10.  The  Loadstone  Mountain. ^Crete  (138)  ,.,  ...  ...  129 

(Kocking-S  tones  141.  H 

ir.  Mdyini<^,  Medea,  and  Maia.~Toijchstone  (150)  ...  ...  14a 

(Mdasine  I49.^;)g*s  Bed  (51.) 

12.  The  fXdipus  myths ,,,         ..,         ,..         .„  .,.  ...  153 

13.  The  Cardinal    Points  (TTie    Number    Eight    lao.— Sixteen  1S2.  157 

— Tw«rlv*c  173*— the  AmpbiKtiones  179.) 

14.  The  Four  Living  Creatures            ...         ...  ,,.  ,„  1S4 

The  Pillar. 

*  J                   I S-  The  Axis  as  Piliar  (The  Obdlsk  198} 1 89 

^                 16.  Divine  names  in  Lat-          ...         ...         ...  .,.  ...  209 

^H              17.  The  Tat  ^  of  Ptah. — The  Tee  and  Umbrella  (220)  213 

^^  (The  Single  Leg  215.) 

18.  The  Heavens- Palace  and  its  Pillar  (The  Grwi  231)  .,.  ..,  224 

19.  The  Colophon          ...         ,.,         ...         .,,  .,,  ..,  232 

20.  The  Dual  Pillars. -^Pillar  Wind-gods  (242)  ...  ...  235 

21.  The  Dokana  or  Gate  of  Heaven     ...         ...  ,.*  ...  245 


A    1 


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Contents, 


The  Pillar-Axis  as  Tower. 

22.  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland. — Pillar-stones  (269)       ...     260 

23.  Some  other  Towers  ...         282 

[The  Tomoye.]     (This  section  is  omitted  for  the  present.) 

The  Axis  and  the  Universe-Tree. 

24.  The  Tree-trunk        289 

(The  Beanstalk  294.— the  Barber's  Pole  301.— the  Maypole  302. — the 
Reed  303. — Osiris  306. — Tree-Worship  ^14. — the  Rowan-tree  320. — 
Tree  and  Well  322.— the  Thorn  323. — the  Mistletoe  325. — Swinging 
326. — from  Post  to  Pillar  330.) 

25.  The  Christmas-tree 334 

26.  The  myths  of  Daphn^,  and  of  AgLauros  (344) 341 

27.  The  Gods  of  the  Druids      350 


The  Axis  as  a  Bridge  

The  Dogs  at  the  Cbinvadh  Bridge 

The  Boat 

The  Ladder 


(These  sections  are 
omitted  for  the 
present.) 


Polar     Myths. 

1.  The  Navels^T— Navel  Hearthfire  (362). — Sanctuary  (367)      359 

2.  The  Rock  of  Ages. — The  God  Terminus  (387) 381 

3.  The  Arcana  (Robbing  the  Treasury  396.— the  Cista  Mystica  406.— the      394 

Ark  of  Bulrushes  410.  —the  Chest  of  Cypselus  413. — the  Christmas- 
Box  423.) 

4.  The   North    (The  Graha  427.— the  Augur's  Templum  430.— Northern     425 

Burial  448.  —the  liyperBoreaps  451.— the  North  contra  457.— North 
and  South  460.) 

5.  The  Eye  of  Heaven  (The  CyclOpes  470.  —the  LaiStrygones  472.—     464 

the  ArimAspoi  475. — the  Evil  Eye  477.) 

6.  The   Polestar  (The  Most   High  486.— the  Judge  of  Heaven  490.—     485 

Polestar- Worship  500.— Sirius  504. — Polestar-Worship  in  Chma  513. — 
Tai-Yih  5I7.-Tai-Ki  518.— Shang-Ti  521.— Triads  525.— Tao  and 
Taoism  527. — Lao-Tsze  531. — Polestar-Worship  in  Japap  $35.) 


Appendix. 

a.  Additions  and  Subtractiorvs     ^  545 

j8.  ^keleton  of  the  Argument       569 

7.  Lapses  and  Relapses     ...  580 


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The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


Disputatio  Circularis. 

All  things  that  move  between  the  quiet  Poles. 

(Marlowe's  Faustus  i,  i,  54.) 

ALMOST   beyond   belief  is  the  endless  number  of  human 
/  \    sacred  ideas  founded  in  a  supreme  reverence  for  the  revo- 
jL      \^  lution  of  the  Universe  round  the  Axis  of  the  Earth,  and 
for  the  almighty  Power  that  accomplishes  that  stupendous  All- 
containing  motion. 

Many  of  these  ideas  are  still  extant  as  concrete  and  ineradic- 
able expressions  in  the  languages,  liturgies,  and  sciences  of  men. 
The  Heaoens  \  Every  text-book  on  astronomy  is  written  in  the  ter- 
art  telling,  }  ^inology,  and  the  Society  that  is  named  Royal  talks 
the  idiom.  Words  and  phrases  and  theories  begotten  of  those 
ideas  have  become  compacted  into  the  constitution  of  our  minds ; 
and  they  are  all  of  them — it  is  a  mightiest  satire  upon  the  insane 
pride  of  the  intellect — all  of  them  founded  upon  a  universal  Fact 
which  is  a  Lie. 

Let  any  reader  who  here  hesitates  at  the  very  threshold,  try 
and  put  that  most  simple  and  useful  of  untruths  "  the  sun* rises" 
into  words  that  accurately  convey  the  facts  of  the  case  ;  or  explain 
the  origin  of  the  word  '  heaven ' ;  or  get  to  the  Ding  an  Sich  of 
the  Atlas  myth  on  any  other  than  the  Axis  theory  favoured  in 
this  Inquiry. 

It  is  hard  luck  that  a  book  like  this,  which  aims  at  some  sort 
of  scientific  system,  should  thus  have  to  start  from,  and  base  its 
investigations  on,  a  falsity  ;  that  its  author  should  have  to  reverse 
In  endless  \  the  "  E  pur  si  muove  "  ;  to  constantly  maintain  (but 
error  hnrud.  j  ^^y  jj^  Myth)  that  the  heaveny  do  move  round ;  to 
make  that  supposititious  mt)tion  the  primum  mobile  of  his  theories  ; 
and   to  argue    and   re-argue   from   positions  that  are  untrue  in 


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The  Night  of  the  Gods, 


Nature ;  although  all  the  learned  to  a  man  believed  in  them  not 
so  very  long  ago,  and  the  huge  majority  of  human  beings  do  so 
believe  invincibly  at  this  moment. 

It  is  here  maintained  that  the  everlasting,  stupendous,  unfailing 
rotation  of  the  Heavens  round  the  Earth — which  was  an  ever  and 
everywhere  present  overpowering  universe-fact — must,  from  the 
earliest  times  when  human  intelligence  had  grown-up  to  the  notice 
of  it,  have  exercised  an  enormous  and  fascinating  and  abiding 
influence  upon  the  observant  and  reflective,  upon  the  devout 
portion  of  mankind  ;  and  must  have  provided  the  supreme  initial 
origin  of  the  greater  Cosmic  Myths  which  concern  themselves  with 
the  genesis  and  mechanism  of  the  Universe. 

The  earliest  and  simplest  leading  conclusion  formulated  as  to 

this  rotation,  by  the  inhabitants  of  our  hemisphere,  must  have  been 

The  point    \    that  it  was  accomplished  around  a  fixed  point,  the 

quiescent,    j    North   Pole  ;  and   the   next   deduction  was  that   in 

that  point,  that  pivotj  there  terminated   a  fixed  and  rigid  Axis, 

about  which  the  rotation  was  effected.     "The  Nature  of  Man," 

wrote  Bacon  when  treating  of  Logic,  "doth  extremely  covet  to 

have  somewhat  in  his  Understanding  fixeid  and  immoveable,  and 

as  a  rest  and  support  of  the  mind     And  therefore,  as  Aristotle 

\    endeavoureth  to   prove  that  in  all  Motion  there   is 

iruana.     j-    ^^^^  point  quiescent ;  and  as  he  elegantly  expoundeth 

the  ancient  fable   of  AtLas  (that  stood   fixed   and   bare  up  the 

heaven  from  falling)  to  be  meant  of  the  Poles  or  Axle-tree  of 

heaven,  whereupon  the  conversion  is  accomplished, — so,  assuredly, 

men  have  a  desire  to  have  art  AtLas  or  Axle-tree  within,  to  keep 

them  from  fluctuation,"  and  so  forth. 

It  4s  thus  thdt,  seizing  the  typital  instiaince  of  thie  first  motion 

imparted  by  the  Japanese  Creator-gdds,  this  Inquiry  starts  from  the 

\    churning  of  th^  univei-se-ocean  with  the  Spear-axis  ; 

rea  lon-my  .  j"    ^^ ^    ^^   endeavours    to   bring    fbrth   the    Deus  ex 

machine,  and  to  evolve  system  out  of  the  chaotic  empuddlement 

of  myths  with  which  it  has  to  deal. 

Thus,  too,  is  here  posited  as  it  were  a  diVisioh  of  Cycletic  or 

cycietie     \  *  Helissal    or    Kinetic    Mythology,  a    mythology  of 

Mythology,   )    cosmic  Machinery-irt-hiotion,  which  may  disclose  to 

us  even  archaic  glintmerirlgS  in  China  of  palpitating  nebulae,  and  in 

Phoenicia  of  meteoric  clashihgs  in  spaA. 


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I 


The  next  step  of  admiring,  if  not  awe-struck  and  adoring,  human 
minds  would  have  been  to  seek  for  the  Power  that  was  compelling 

the  rotation  ;  and  it  will  perhaps  be  conceded  as  natural  that  the 
Director,  the  Swayer  of  the  Whole  should  be  piaced  in  imagination 
I    at  its  sole  and  highest  point  quiescent,  its  pivot,  its 
qmu.  j    cheville  ouvriere,  the  Northern  Pole. 
Anyhow,  that  was  what  was  done ;  and  one  of  the  matn  objects 
of  this  Inquiry  is  to  identify  the  Polar  Deity  with  the  oldest,  the 
•i    suprcmcst,  of  the  cosmic  gods  of  all  early  Northern 
'  ■*     religions  ;    with    the     Ptah    of    the    Egyptians,    the 
Kronos  of  the  Greeks,  the  Shang-Ti  of  the  Taoists  and  the  Tai-Ki 
and  Tai-yi  of  the  philosophic  Chinese,  with  the  Ame  no  miNaka- 
Nushi  of  archaic  Japan.     This  is  attempted  in  the  chapters  con- 
cerned with  the  Poles  tar  and  the  mythic  sacred  ness  of  the  North  ; 
where  also  the  Eye  of  Heaven  and  the  Omphalos  myths  find  their 
local  habitation.     There  too— at  the  end  of  the  Axis — arc  placed 
those  Triune  emblems,  the  fleur-de-lis  and  the  trident  ;  while  the 
Axis  itself  becomes  the  Spear,  Lance,  or  Dart  of  so  many  classic 
myths,  the  hopu  of  Kronos,  the  trident-handle  of  Poseidon ,  the 
typical  Rod  of  rhabdomancy  (which  is  also  a  branch  of  the  Universe- 
Tree). 

The  Magnetic  Pole  further  gives  occasion  for   the  connexion 

of  the  North  with  the  natural  Magnet,  and  thence  with  all  .nacred 

)     animated    Stones  r    with    meteorites,    the    touchstone 

'     and  bcth-Kls;  and  thus  is  stonc-worship  centered  m 

the  Polar  Deity. 

Closely  connected   with   the   pole,  and    more   closely  with   a 

former  Poles  tar,  by  their  position  and  their  revolutions,  the  Seven 

Stars  of  Ursa  Major  arc  shown  to  have  been  the  originators  of  the 

TAr  s'tfm^r  }    hoHncss  of  thc  Jncvitablc  Number  Seven,     And   to 

Sfzvn.      )    ^j^-g  J  have  been  driven,  almost  against  my  will,  to 

^conjoin  a  somewhat  fuji  discussion  of  the  Cabiric  gods. 

All  the  Atlas-myths,  endless  and  worldwide,  are  referred  to  the 
Axis ;  which  is  also  made  the  Pillar  of  the  heavens,  and  the  type 
and  original  of  all  the  sacred  pillars  of  the  world.  From  the  Piliar 
fnsk  Rmmi  )  the  Inqittrj  naturally  proceeds  to  the  Tower ;  and 
Tau;^.  )  qI^Ijii^;  all  obelisks,  towers,  and  steeples  as  having 
been  initially  sacred  worship-symbols  of  the  great  tower  of  Kronos, 
of  the  mainstay  of  the  Universe. 

Other  chapters  pursub  the  symbolism  of  the  Axis  in  the  trunk 


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of  the  Universe-Tree,  and  in  the  Bridge  to  the  other  world  ;  which 
are  two  of  the  commonest  and  most  wide-spread  "  properties  "  in 
the  world-myths.  The  Tree  in  combination  with  the  Seven  stars 
is  made  to  give  us  the  Seven-branched  Candlestick  ;  and  the  Bridge 
is  also  treated-of  as  the  Ladder. 

The  revolution  of  the  heavens  is  more  directly  figured  forth 
in  the  Winged  Sphere,  which  it  is  here  maintained  is  the  true 
significance  of  what  has  been  viewed,  by  a  greatly  too  linaited 
The  winged  \  interpretation,  as  merely  a  winged  "disk,"  in  the 
''disk:'  j  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  and  other  mythologies.  With 
the  Winged  Sphere  too  are  connected  all  the  divine  birds  and  man- 
birds,  and  the  winged  scarab,  and  all  the  divine  feathers  worn  by 
Egyptian  deities.  To  this  category,  and  also  to  that  of  the  triple 
emblems,  belongs  the  Prince  of  Wales's  plume.  The  Universe- 
Egg  can  scarcely  be  separated  from  the  consideration  of  the  divine 
Bird. 

The  Dance  of  the  Stars  is  another  figure  for  the  revolution  of 
the  heavens;  and  that  leads  to  the  discussion  of  religious  and 
-I  "  round  "  Dancing,  which  is  found  among  all  races  of 
<m  ances,  f  ^^^^  together  with  circular  worship  by  walking  round 
Trees,  Shrines,  and  other  objects  ;  all  of  which,  it  is  maintained, 
are  ritualistic  practices  in  the  archaic  worship  of  the  revolving 
heavens  and  their  god.  With  this  subject  the  chapters  on  the 
Salii  and  the  Dactyli  also  connect  themselves. 

The  transition  to   the  sacred   symbolism  of  the  rotating  (but 

not  the  rolling)  Wheel  is  here  easy  ;  and  I  do  my  best  to  convince 

Tke  mueio/\    niy  readers  that  the  Wheel-god  of  Assyrian  and  other 

ike  Law.     j    symbolism   is   the   Compeller  of  the   Universe,  and 

that  the  turning  of  the  "  Praying"- wheel  is  a  devout  practice  in 

his  worship.     The  Fire-wheel  then  leads  to  an  important  conclusion 

as  to  the  production  of  Fire  in  religious  ceremonies  ;  and  the  wheel 

of  Fortune  is  identified  with  the  revolution  of  Time  which  brings  in 

his  revenges.     The  Buddhist  wheel  of  the  Law  is  also  referred  to 

the  revolution  of  the  heavens,  while  the  Law  is  that  of  the  universe 

they  enclose.     And  so  the  Suastika  becomes  a  skeleton  symbol 

of  the  wheel  or   the  whirligig,   and   is   connected   also  with  the 

TfuRomaunt\    Labyrinth.     Attention  must  also  be  directed  to  the 

o/TheRose.  j    ^^^  Romaunt  of  the  Rose,  which  seeks  to  identify 

that  famous  symbol  also  with  the  Wheel. 

The  conception  of  revolving  Time  leads   to   a  somewhat  full 


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discussion  of  the  archaic  gods  who  personified  Endless  Time  and  its 
circular  symbols.  The  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain  belongs  to  this 
section. 

That  very  common  mythic  figure  for  the  heavens-vault — a 
supremely  holy  Mountain — is  treated  at  some  length  ;  and  leads 
us  to  the  Cone  in  religious  symbolism. 

The  starry  heavens  are  also  sought  to  be  identified  with  white 
Argos  and  with  the  White  Wall  of  Memphis  as  well  as  with  the 
(mythic)  city  of  Grecian  Thebes.  They  are  also  the  Veil  of  the 
universe,  to  which  the  chapter  headed  Weaving  is  devoted.  The 
quadripartite  division  of  the  Chinese  sphere  is  made  to  accord 
with  the  Four  Living  Creatures  of  Hebrew  mysticism  ;  and  the 
heavens-River  is  demonstrated  in  the  Milky  Way  and  in  the 
perennial  circulation  of  the  atmospheric  and  terrestrial  waters. 

It  is  impossible  to  do  more  in  this  place  than  briefly  catalogue 

the  other  subjects  treated-of.     Such  are,  under  the  heading  of  the 

Ethcc genus  \    Hcavens-mountain,  the  Parsi  Dakhmas ;  the  heavens- 

<^n€,  j  ^Q2X  of  Egyptian  and  other  mythologies,  with  which 
are  grouped  all  Arks  and  the  good  ship  Argo  ;  the  stone-weapons 
of  the  gods,  the  Hindii  Chakra,  and  the  Flaming  Sword  ;  the 
Cherubim  of  the  Hebrews  and  Assyrians ;  the  Tat  of  Ptah, 
as  an  axis-symbol  of  stability ;  the  Round  Towers  of  Ireland. 
The  Seven  Churches,  the  Seven  Sleepers,  and  the  Week 
are  dwelt-on  under  the  heading  of  the  Number  Seven.  The 
heavenly  Dogs  of  the  passage  to  the  next  world  are  sought  to  be 
connected  with  the  Egyptian  *  jackals',  and  other  sacred  dogs. 
The  significance  of  Right  and  Left  in  worship,  and  the  HindO 
Conchshell,  complete  this  list. 

But  it  still  remains  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  reader  more 
especially  to  the  pages  which  deal  with  the  names  and  myths  of 
PalLas,  AtLas,  I^tinus,  Magnus,  CEdipus,  and  Battos  ;  of  Sisyphus 
and  TanTalos  ;  of  the  god  Picus  ;  of  Daphn^,  AgLaufos  and 
Dana^  ;  of  Numa  Pompilius,  of  the  Bees,  of  the  Arcana,  and  of  the 
Labyrinth.  The  genesis  of  Rhodes  from  the  Rose( wheel),  with 
the  Colossus  and  the  Colophon,  also  claim  perusal ;  as  do  the 
sections  on  Buddha's  and  all  the  other  Footprints ;  on  the  Gods 
of  the  Druids ;  on  the  Dokana,  which  is  brought  down  to  the 
Lychgate ;  and  on  the  Omphalos  and  the  Rock  of  Ages. 

But  I  must  cease  fretting  the  reader  with  this  mere  table  of 
contents. 


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*'  /'Comparative  mythology,"  which  already  calls  itself  a 

^^  science,  is  as  yet   very  much  like  the  mythic  young  Bears 

ComparaHve  \   with  which  it  has  in  this  Inquiry  (under  the  heading 

mythology,   f   ^f  f  (^^  Number  Seven  and  elsewhere)  a  good  deal 

to  do:    it  is  amorphous.     And  even  all  its  more  shapely -works 

must  somehow  resemble  the  patchwork  quilts — *  crazy  quilts  '  they 

call  them  still  in  Ole  Virginny — which  were  the  Penelope's  webs  of 

our  great-grandmothers.      It  is  a  science  of  shreds  and  patches, 

which  all  lie  in  a  sort  of  gigantic  lucky-bag,  out  of  which  everyone 

pulls  very  much  what  comes  next  to  hand.     The  patches  used  to 

Thetaihr   \   gct  sortcd  (by  our  grandmothers)  according  to  colour, 

P<**^^*^     >    or  size,  or   texture,  or  chance  ;    and  so  sartor  was 

resartus,  the  tailor  was  patched,  perhaps  over  and  over  again. 

The  scraps  of  mythological  fact  have  also  been  sorted  in  various 
ways.  There  are  the  racial  and  the  lingual  classifications ;  and 
the  migratory  system,  which  purports  to  be  an  advance  on  these. 
There  is  the  divine  or  personal  classification  (not  neglected  here) 
which  concentrates  on  the  lay-figure  of  some  one  deity  all  the 
home  and  foreign  drapery  that  seems  to  belong  to  him  and  to  his 
analogues  ;  and  there  is  the  sorting  of  the  myth-scraps  according 
to  their  obvious  identities :  at  times  very  much  regardless  of  the 
individual  divine  entities  they  now  purport  to  clothe. 

This  last  is  the  method  chiefly  followed  here ;  and  it  originally 
suggested  itself  doubtless  because  of  the  evidently  heterogeneous 
"k  mass  of  rags  (borrowed^  stolen,  and  honestly  come 
->  by)  which  even  the  oldest  and  most  respectable  gods 
had  managed  in  the  course  of  ages  to  darn  and  -work  up  into  their 
harlequin  suits.  This  particular  method  endeavours  to  pick-over 
the  rags  and,  if  not  ever  to  reconstitute  the  first  new  coat,  at  least 
to  predicate  the  loom  or  factory  and  the  trade-mark  of  the  fabric 
to  which  the  scrap  belongs. 

To  do  this  on  a  large  scale  would  require  an  expenditure  of 
time  and  other  resources  which  it  would  take  several  'golden 
dustmen  *  to  command  ;  and  consequently,  and  also  for  the  urgent 
reason  that  life  is  short,  the  present  Inquiry  is  sadly  defective  in 
every  direction. 


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All  is  fish  that  comes  to  this  net.  On  fait  fl^che  de  tout  bois. 
The  etymologist,  the  dreamist  and  nightmarist,  the  ttmonte,  are 
all  welcome  here,  to  meet  Euhemerus  ;  who  may  even  worship  his 
ancestors,  and  be  frightened  of  their  ghosts,  in  his  moments  perdus. 
Nor,  in  an  Inquiry  into  matter  which  is  mainly  the  product  of  the 
human  fancy,  can  the  theorist  who  draws  upon  his  own  imagination 
be  excluded.  But  there  is  no  rule  without  an  exception,  and  one 
TA€  \  exclusion  alone  is  made  :  the  geographer — so  to  call 
migrutieHitt.  j  jjjj^ — ^j^q  regards  every  myth  as  a  migration,  finds 
little  or  no  admittance,  even  on  business.  The  world  is  wide, 
though  not  so  wide  as  it  was  ;  there  is  still  room  for  all ;  and  no 
cosmic  myth  is  asked  whence  it  came  on  the  map  of  the  world,  but 
only  on  the  chart  of  the  imagination  of  the  human  race. 

Given  a  small  planet,  and  an  evolution  of  life  and  living  things 
thereon  ;  and  of  men  who>  wherever  they  be  on  that  planet,  see  the 
same  heavens,  and  the  same  phases  of  those  heavens — not,  may 
be,  at  the  same  precise  hour  of  the  twenty-four,  nor  on  the  same 
exact  day  of  the  360  and  odd,  nor  even  in  the  same  year  of  the 
cycle — given  these  men  and  their  (within  planet  limits)  same 
mode  of  evolution,  propagation,  cerebral  organisation,  and 
nutriment ;  with  the  sameness  of  their  non-planetary  objects  of 
sense  and  thought ;  and  there  would  seem  to  be  no  reason  why 
they  should  not  every  where — as  naturally  as  any  one  where — 
evolve  the  same  or  very  similar  theories,  mythological  or  otherwise, 
of  their  cosmic  surroundings.  **  The  human  mind,"  writes  Sir  M. 
Monier- Williams  about  the  religious  thought  of  India,  "  like  the 
body,  goes  through  similar  phases  everywhere,  develops  similar 
proclivities,  and  is  liable  to  similar  diseases." 

By  **  planet  limits "  of  course  the  accidents  of  latitude  and  of 
climate  are  chiefly  meant ;  and  if  a  man  will  place  himself  in 
imagination  at  such  a  distance  in  space  as  will  reduce  this  earth  to 
the  apparent  size,  say,  of  the  moon,  he  will  see  at  once  that  all 
these  •*  limits "  are,  roughly  speaking,  mere  accidents  in  so  far  as 
the  relations  of  the  planet  to  the  heavens  are  concerned. 

Or  take  a  metaphysical  illustration,  and  let  earthly  man  identify 
himself  with  his  planet  as  the  Subject ;  and  then  all  the  rest  of  the 
visible  (and  invisible)  universe  becomes  for  him  the  Objective^  the 
same  objective  which  every  other  subject  on  the  planet  has  to 
represent  to  himself.  What  wonder  is  it  then  that  all  these  (by 
the  hypothesis)  identical  subjects  should  take  similar  views  of  the 


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same  objective.  Nay,  one  might  carry  it  farther,  and,  presuming 
similar  conditions — that  is,  (as  may  be  seen  in  the  course  of  the 
Inquiry)  presuming  a  like  inclination  of  the  planetary  axis,  one 
might  say  that  there  is  no  reason  why  possible  "  men  "  on  some 
other  solar  planet  should  not  have  evolved  the  self-same  theories 
or  cosmic  myths  (more  or  less)  of  the  same  objective  heavens. 


The  greatest  objection  that  can  be  urged  against  the  "geo- 
grapher "  or  migration ist — and  it  is  a  fatal  one — is  that  his  theories 
Ttu  \  are  forcedly  exclusive.  One  migrationist  says  all 
migrationht.  j  astrognosy  and  myth  aro^e  in  Egypt,  and  went  to 
Chaldea  ;  another  says  Chaldean  lore  came  from  far  Cathay ;  yet 
another  says  the  Greek  gods  came  from  India,  or  the  reverse — for 
it  isn't  twopence  matter.  Each  of  these  wants  the  field,  or  the 
shield,  for  himself;  and  may  hold  it  for  a  time  ;  but  one  fine  day 
some  latent  old  scintilla  of  fact  is  discovered  and  blown-upon, 
blazes  up  anew,  and  explodes  him  and  his  theory  in  a  jiffy.  It  is 
just  the  old  Nursery  Rhyme  over  again  : 

The  Lion  and  the  Unicom  fighting  for  the  Crown  ; 
Up  jumps  the  little  Dog,  and  knocks  'em  both  down. 

Nor  can  I  see  how  it  gets  us  any  more  forward  even  to  prove 
indubitably  that  the  Cosmic  myths  of  country  A  did  come  from 
place  B.  Very  well.  Granted.  Glad  to  hear  it,  even.  And  what 
of  it  ?  What  then  ?  It  makes  in  reality  no  more  approach  upon 
the  kernel  of  the  question,  upon  the  Ding  an  Sich  that  the  myth 
enholds,  than  if  you  indubitably  proved  exactly  the  reverse.  As 
"k  Lobeck*  remarked  about  the  origin-spot  of  the  cosmic 
^'  ^  Egg,  quaerere  ludicrum  est ;  for  the  conception  is 
one  of  the  earliest  theories  that  would  occur  to  the  rudest  imagina- 
tion. Such  a  quest  is  like  asking :  Which  side  of  an  egg  is  first 
feathered? — a  cryptic  way  of  putting  another  universal  sphinx- 
riddle  :    Which  came  first,  the  hen  or  the  egg  ? 

Prove  to  me,  indeed,  that  the  celestial  myths  of  this  Earth 
came  from  outside  the  planet,  and  you  excite  an  interest  far 
other  than  dilettante ;  and  that  is  the  origin  that  every  heavens- 
myth  of  the  whole  human  world  and  of  all  human  prehistory 
has  been  always  trying,  and  is  still  trying,  and  will  perhaps  for 
ever  try  to  prove,  till  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time. 


AglaophamuSf  i,  473. 


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It  has  been  said  that  the  Imagination  shall  not  here  be 
denied  its  help.  Much  mythology  has  grown  doubtless, 
Vain  \  as  much  language  grows,  by  some  guess  innate 
imaginatiim.  )  power  of  growing  and  grafting  and  tangling ;  but 
the  great  mass  of  mythological  stuff  has  been  projected  by  the 
human  imagination.  Why  then  should  the  imagination  be 
^artee  in  its  analysis  ?  The  mind  of  starkly  scientific  mould  is 
not  the  best  outfitted  for  poetical  explorations  ;  and  mythology 
and  poetry  have  always  been  irredeemably  intermingled.  Who 
would  give  much  value  to  the  word  Science  in  such  a  phrase 
as  "the  science  of  Comparative  Poetry";  and  the  only  justifi- 
cation of  a  science  of  comparative  mythology  lies  in  the  fact 
that  there  must  be  method  even  in  the  fine  frenzy  of  the  poet, 
if  he  would  charm  the  imaginations  even  of  the  most  poetical 
minds. 

It  is  written  above  that  the  etymologist  was  received  with 
open   arms  in   these  speculations;   but  this   free  admission   has 

The       >    unhappily  to   be   clogged   with    one   important   re- 
Eiymoioghi.  )    striction.       Philologia    had    to    come    rather    as    a 
handmaiden  than  as  a  mistress  to  Mythologia. 

It  will  be  seen  indeed  throughout  that  the  skeleton  of  a 
myth  is  employed  as  the  masterkey  of  a  verbal  lock  much 
oftener  than  any  reverse  operation  is  attempted.  For  it  is  now 
at  last  dawning  upon  a  good  few  that  the  linguistic  fetters — 
Sanskrit  or  other — in  which  divine  Mytholc^;y  has  been,  for 
a  many  recent  years,  forced  to  caper  for  our  amazement,  might 
well  be  hung-up  with  other  old  traps  of  torture,  to  edify  the 
generations. 

Words  are  emphatically  not  the  prime  authors  of  thoughts. 
The  name  of  a  god  cannot — you  may  swear  it  by  the  god — 
be  the  maker  of  the  god  himself.  This  would  be,  in  mytho- 
logical jargon,  to  have  the  Deity  proceed  from  his  own 
Word;  to  subordinate  the  cerebrating  power  to  the  organs  of 
speech.  That  there  is  a  subsequent  reflex  action  of  the  formed 
word  upon  the  thinking  brain  that  produced  it  is  another  matter 
altogether — just  so  does  every  other  product  of  the  brain  react 
upon  it ;  just  so  does  everything  else  in  Nature  act,  switchback, 
upon  the  brain  :  as  (may  be)  the  brain  does  in  its  turn  upon  the  Will 
that  evolved   it     But   to   say,  and   to  found   a   cardinal  theory 


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u  Tlie  Night  of  the  Gods. 

upon  the  saying,  that  a  certain  concatenation  of  sounds  in  one 
human  speech  naturally  and  habitually  produced  or  reproduced  a 
divine  ideal  in  the  brains  of  men  of  the  same  or  of  another  speech, 
is  to  heap-up  impalpable  sand,  and  build  a  card-house  city  on  it 

Most  god-names,  like  all  their  titles,  are  adjectival,  descriptive. 
Tktnamtof  >  Tbus  thcse  names  and  titles  irrefragably  have,  quite 
God.  j  naturally,  their  analogues,  their  coevals,  perhaps 
their  predecessors,  in  the  ordinary  words  of  the  language  in  which 
they  arose.  By  taking  a  whole  class  of  resemblant  divine  and 
sacred  words — first  in  one,  ^nd  theq  in  two  or  more  tongues — and 
running  them  down  backwards  into  their  myths  and  meanings  and 
roots,  it  is  often  found  that  a  marvellous,  an  electric,  light  is 
diffused  over  the  whole  class. 

As  examples  of  such  a  mode  of  treatment,  the  reader  must 
mercilessly  be  requested  to  follow,  step  by  critical  step,  the  pages 
which  deal  with  words  in  w^-,  me-  and  mag-  ;  in  the- ;  in  pal-^ 
dor-  and  tat-  ;  in  mel-y  in  drii- ;  in  lab- ;  in  ag-^  ok-  and  arc-. 

It  is  in  ffict  contended  here  th^t  the  functions  of  a  cosmic 
Nature-god  and  his  consequent  name  and  titles  had  an  immense 
and  far-reaching  influence  on  (often)  a  whole  class  of  other  deities 
and  their  names,  and  upon  the  words  of  the  rityal  and  the 
*  properties,'  and  the  names  of  the  properties,  of  bis  and  their 
worship.  This  broadly  defines  the  chief  purpose  for  which 
Etymology  is  summoned  as  a  witness  in  this  Inquiry'  where  the 
nature,  that  is  the  function^  of  the  god  is  made  -to  account  for  his 
etymon,  instead  of  the  reverse  process — his  name  educing  his 
nature — being  imposed  upon  the  student. 

Poetry  ever  clings  fast  to  old  words,  long  long  after  they  have 
dropped  out  of  the  workaday  tongue.  "  If  we  take  a  piece  of  Old- 
English  prose,  say  the  Tales  translated  by  Alfred,  or  yElfric's 
Homilies,  or  a  chapter  of  the  Bible,  we  shall  find  that  we  keep  to 
this  day  three  out  of  four  of  all  the  nouns,  adverbs,  and  ve»bs 
employed  by  the  old  writer.  But  of  the  nouns,  adverbs,  and 
verbs  used  in  any  poem  from  the  Beowulf  to  the  Song  on  Edward 
the  Confessor's  death,  about  half  have  dropped  for  ever."^  That 
is  to  say  that  only  25  words  in  the  100  of  prose  were  then  old,  while 
SO  (or  twice  as  many)  were  archaic  in  poetry. 

The  same  is  true  of  myth  and  fairy-tale  and,  in  an  infinitely 
greater  degree,  of  religious  nomenclature.     In  no  division  of  speech 

*  T.  L.  Kington  Oliphant's  Old  and  Middle  English,  1878,  p.  489. 


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is  the  conservative  spirit  so  strong  ;  and  it  is  in  divine  names  and 
sacred  terms  that  we  must  seek  for  some  of  the  earliest,  the  most 
gnarled,  and  the  doziest  old  roots  of  every  tongue.  This  to  a  great 
extent  explains  why  our  philological  canons  exclude  such  proper 
names  from  consideration.  If  the  Gods  were  not — like  the  Rex 
Romanus — above  grammar,  they  are  at  least  older  than  philology.^ 


It  is  quite  possible  that  those  big  coqjuring-rwords  Esoteric  and 
Esoteric  and  \  Exoterfc,  with  which  Comparative  religionites  and 
Exoitric.  j  mythologians  are  wont  to  frighten  each  other,  may 
not  be  nearly  so  big  as  we  think  they  look  and  sound.  A  great 
deal  of  the  ambitious  theory-  about  the  elaborate  invention — as  if 
anything  greatly  religious  was  ever  invented ! — the  elaborate 
invention  of  two  sacred  beliefs  :  "  one  to  face  the  world  with,  one  to 
show"  to  the  initiated,  must  perhaps  be  exploded.  I  would 
especially  indicate  chapters  8  and  9  of  the  5  th  Book  of  Clement 
of  Alexandria's  Stromata  as  a  first-rate  instance  of  the  glib  and 
transparent  boniments  pattered  to  us  from  all  time  about  these 
Esoteric  and  Exoteric  peas  and  thimbles. 

There  are  at  least  three  (or  more)  possible  sources  for  this 
The  evolutions  \   double  view  of  any  myth,     (i)  A  sacred  fact  being 

ojmytk.  f  stated,  defined,  as  an  extremely  naked  thing  in  very 
naked  words  by  those  who  completely  ^^wprehend  it  and  all  its 
analogues.  (2)  This  statement's  expounding,  amplification  (in 
order  that  it  may  be  understSLuded  of  those  who  do  not  comprehend), 
by  an  analogy  ;  by  one  or  many  analogies  or  allegories  ;  or  by 
paraphrases  of  the  naked  words  ;  or  by  parables,  (3)  By  the 
true  sense  of  the  naked  definition  (or  the  true  drift  of  the  analogy 
or  the  allegory  or  the  parable)  getting  lost  in  the  process  of  time, 
or  in  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  generations  and  revolutions  of  men 
and  of  nations. 

Now  in  case  (i),  the  more  recondite  any  matteir  defined,  and 
the  more  naked  any  definition  is,  the  more  difficult  is  it  also  to  be 
completely  understood  without  study  of  its  context,  or  viva  voce 
exposition  of  its  full  meaning.  Here  is  one  fruitful  cause  of  the 
esoteric  and  exoteric  bifurcation.     As  to  case  (2),  here  we  have 

*  "  It  may  be  observed  that  the  proper  names  of  the  mythological  and  heroic  times 
contain  elements  of  the  Greek  language  which  sometimes  cannot  be  traced  elsewhere — 
cf.  Zeus,  Seirios,  etc."  (Preface  of  October  1882  to  7th  ed.  1883  of  Liddell  and  Scott*s 
Lexicon.)     But  as  to  Seirios,  see  now  pp.  24,  453,  584  infra. 


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1 6  ,     The  Night  of  the  Gods, 

ample  room  and  verge  enough  for  all  the  mythological  fables  and 
legends  ever  handed  down  :  if  we  besides  give  their  full  scope  to 
the  secretive  dog-and-jackdaw  faculty  of  the  human  brain,  which 
delights  in  making  cacJus  and  in  cultivating  covertness  ;  and  also 
to  the  innate  unlimited  power  and  bent  of  the  same  organ  for 
uttering  and  receiving  the  thing  which  is  not :  for  *  telling  stories/ 
in  point  of  fact ;  and  listening  to  them. 

This  it  is,  too,  that  explains  why,  as  one  fire  or  one  nail,  so 
nothing  but  one  god  or  one  mystery  drives  out  another. 

As  to  case  (3),  we  need  seek  no  further  for  the  origin  of  that 
adorable  bugbear  of  the  pietistic  and  ritualistic  mind 
in  all  and  every  race,  in  all  and  every  creed,  the 
*  mystery  of  revealed  religion ' ;  which  is  never  any  more  than  a 
sphinx-riddle,  and  generally  some  mere  archaic  devinaille.  But 
even  that  last  word  enholds  the  divine  as  well  as  the  divining  ; 
for  there  was  an  early  time  in  all  breeds  of  men  when,  in  the 
matter  of  divines  and  diviners,  six  of  one  were  half-a-dozen  of  the 
other,  for  their  pious  frequenters.^ 

Does  it  not  seem  that  these  are  sufficient  ways  of  accounting 
for  the  Esoteric  and  Exoteric  pieces  of  business }  And  then,  if  we 
add  on  Euhemerism  (which  flourished  long  before  Ey77/Ae/}09)  and 
its  reverse,  and  Platonic  abstraction  and  idealizing,  we  get  an 
immeasurable  distance  on  the  way  towards  a  comprehension  of  the 
divagation,  superfoetation,  and  overgrowth,  of  the  Mythic  Universe.' 


Mysteries,      r 


Lobeck'*  speaks  of  the  "  absurd  symbolism  "  of  the  Platonists. 

At  all  events,  if  they  proved  nothing  else,  they  were  convincing  as 

piatonian  \   tp  the  marvcllous  inventiveness  of  their  speculative 

«*^-      >    powers,  and  their  unlimited  spider-faculty  for  emitting 

the  tenuous  cobweb.    And  myths  are  perhaps  more  maniable  by  us 

than  in  Plato's  time.     We  are  at  least  emancipating,  if  we  can  never 

*  To  the  mystery  of  revealed  religion  belongs  Taboo,  which  might  be  defined  as  a 
silencing  of  the  brain  by  the  feelings — that  is  by  the  Will.  It  is  a  not-speaking-of,  a  not- 
thinking-of,  a  not-enquiring-into  the  thing  felt.  So  is  intense  and  helpless  reverence  for 
the  uttermost  absurdities  fostered  ;  so  does  it  grow  up  and  remain. 

'  In  Miss  J.  E.  Harrison's  Mythology  of  AtuUnt  Athens  (1890)  p.  iii,  the  ac- 
complished writer  says  :  **  In  many,  even  in  the  large  majority  of  cases,  ritual  practice 
misunderstood  explains  the  elaboration  of  myth."  But  this  theory  will  not  explain  the 
elaboration  of  the  ritual  practice. 

^  AglaophamuSf  p.  550. 


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wholly  set  free,  our  tremulous  little  minds  from  the  theological  dreads 
and  trammels  which  enveloped  him.  That  isavery  consoling  passage 
m  Mr.  Lang's  most  valuable  Myth,  Ritual  and  Religion  (ii,  202)  where 
ae,  competent  over  many,  boldly  declares  that  "  in  fact  the  classical 
writers  knew  rather  less  than  we  do  about  the  origin  of  many  of  their 
religious  peculiarities."  But  from  another  point  of  view — that  of 
the  extreme  difficulty  of  the  subject — we  must  still  agree  with  that 
subtle  and  powerful  brain  of  Plato's*  that  it  required  a  man  of 
great  zeal  and  industry,  and  without  any  sanguine  hope  of  good 
fortune,  to  undertake  the  task  of  its  investigation.  On  this  K.  O. 
Miiller*  (too  highly  apprizing  the  total  gratitude  of  men)  said  that 
the  more  difficult  this  ta:sk,  and  the  less  clear  gain  it  promises,  the 
more  ought  we  to  thank  those  who  undertake  it. 


In  all  mythologies,  the  complications,  the  overlappings,  the 
reticulations,  which  reflect   back    the   secular  and  multiple   com- 

The       )    plexities  of  Life,  and  of  the  Universe  with  its  mani- 

Mythou^^icai  >   fold  machinery,  are  ultra-infinite,  infra-infinitesimal. 

And  yet  a  mythologist  is  called  upon  unfailingly  to 

expound  the  whole  of  the  one,  of  the  Reflection  (or  be  for  ever 

silent)  ;   while  who  is  expected  to  explain  the  other,  the  Reality 

— Life  and  the  Universe.? 

The  pursuit  of  a  clear  idea  through  the  tangled  mass  is  too 
often  all  but  impossible.  When  the  chase  is  at  its  hottest,  one  is 
continually  thrown  out,  as  though  whole  barrels  of  red  herrings 
were  scattered  across  the  track  ;  and  then  again,  when  after  many 
a  bootless  cast  the  scent  once  more  is  breast-high,  all  at  once  there 
comes  a  grand  frost,  and  it  all  vanishes  into  thinnest  air. 

It  was  a  saying  of  Jacob  Grimm's  :  "  I  explain  what  I  can  ;  I 
cannot  explain  everything."  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  says  merrily  of 
one  of  his  admirable  books  :  "  this  is  not  a  Key  to  all  Mytholo- 
gies "  ;  and  I  shall,  over  and  above  that,  even  venture  to  hold  that 
the  key  we  are  in  quest  of  is  a  whole  bunch. 

A  valuable  remark  of  the  late  accomplished  Vicomte  Emmanuel 

de  Roug^  finds  its  place  here.     Of  course  it  applies  equally  to  every 

Egyptian    \    Other  land  under  the  heavens,  as  well  as  to  Egypt ; 

myths,  j  j^j^j  j^  jg  unfortunately  almost  ignored  by  students 
of  myth,  instead  of  being  constantly  kept  in  the  very  forefront  of 

>  Phaed,  229.  *  Mythol,  ch.  x. 

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their  work  :  "  The  Egyptian  religion  was  a  reunion  of  local  cults. 
We  consequently  find  in  it  a  repetition  of  the  same  ideas  under 
different  types,  and  with  important  variants."  It  should  be  added 
to  this  that  apparently  incongruous  qualities  and  functions  are,  for 
the  same  reason,  foisted  on  to  individual  types. 

There  is  no  myth  or  legend  into  which  scraps  of  others  have 
not  strayed  ;  and  there  is  perhaps  none  in  which  there  are  not 
details  which  seem  to  clash  with  its  general  central  idea,  its  back- 
bone, its  axis.  With  these  apparent  "  faults  " — to  talk  geology — 
there  is  no  pretension  here  otherwise  to  deal ;  but  what  is 
attempted  is  to  co-ordinate  the  similar  incidents  and  characteristics 
common  to  a  vast  and  widespread  number  of  myths,  dissimilar  it 
may  be  in  their  apparent  general  drift ;  and  thence  to  educe,  to 
build  up — or  rather  to  re-edify — a  system  (of  Heavens-worship) 
which  has  long  either  fallen  to  ruin,  or  been  defaced,  blocked  in, 
overbuilt,  by  a  long  series  of  subsequent  mythical,  theological,  and 
religious  constructions. 

The  anatomical  truth — learnt  only  from  comparative  study — that 
no  organ  ever  remains  (that  is,  continues  to  survive)  unemployed,  is 
true  also  of  mythology  and  theology.  The  disused,  neglected, 
played-out  personage  or  rite  decays,  becomes  decadent,  and 
disappears.  The  altar  to  "an  Unknown  God"  could  not  have 
been  the  shrine  of  an  undiscovered  deity.  He  was  a  fallen  god, 
whose  very  name  had  been  forgotten.  And  that  is  why  the 
reconstruction  of  a  vanished  cult  is  like  the  building  up  of  the  form 
of  an  extinct  organism.  Fortunately,  the  comparative  method  of 
treatment  planes  the  way,  taking  now  a  fact  from  one  and  now 
a  hint  from  another  of  the  innumerable  species  and  varieties  of 
myths  and  creeds ;  and  even,  again,  finding  some  almost  whole 
and  sound — and  now  therefore  startling — survival  to  illustrate  the 

PoUstnr     \    general  theory.     Such  is,  in  the  case  of  the  Polestar- 

worshif,  j  ^vorship  theory,  the  extremely  interesting  subsistence 
of  the  Mandoyo,  Mendatte,  or  Stibban  community  ;  a  still  contem- 
porary continuation  of  the  old  Sabaeans,  far  more  striking  than  the 
romantic  fables  about  the  secluded  persistence  amid  the  recesses 
of  the  Lebanon  of  the  attaching  idolatry  of  ancient  Greece.  Here, 
in  these  Mandoyo,  we  strike  not  the  coarse  ore  of  the  South-Sea 
savage,  but  a  genuine  old  vein  of  solid  metal ;  worn  indeed  and 
£ear      \    long-worked,      but     still     unmistakeable     in     the 

worsh/.     j    crucible    of    the  comparative  student      Such  again 


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are  the  startling  survivals  of  the  worship  of  the  Great  Bear 
in  China  and  elsewhere,  pointed  out  in  the  section  on  the  Number 
Seven. 


Some  mythological  Axioms  might  be  usefully  sketched  out  in 
)    a   book   which  concerns  itself  so  much  with  Axial 
""*'**'•     i*    mythological  facts : 

(i)  There  is  such  a  thing  as  mythological  Time;  and  it  is  a 
very  long  time. 

(2)  Old  gods,  like  the  Roman  Empire  and  most  other  terres- 
trial things,  have  had  their  Rise,  as  well  as  their  Decline  and 
Fall. 

(3)  The  leading  myths  of  these  three  periods  of  a  divine 
existence  in  mythological  Time  may  generally  be  separated,  and 
should  be  carefully  kept  separate. 

(4)  An  infernal  god  has  generally  been  a  supernal  deity ;  and 
thus  every  "  devil  "  is  possibly  a  fallen  god.     Victa  jacit  Pietas  ! 

(5)  The  tendency  is  for  the  young  generation  to  oust  the  old, 
whether  among  animals,  men,  or  gods. 

(6)  The  genealogies  of  the  gods  are  therefore  important 

(7)  It  is  generally  the  rising  generation  that  makes  the 
War  in  \  successful  **  war  in  heaven,"  and  sends  the  oldsters  to 
tuaven.     )    ^ule  in  hcU.     Sometimes  however  the  rebel  is  not  a 

family  relation,  and  is  defeated.  It  was  the  merest  sycophancy  in 
the  poets  to  say  that  the  gods  know  all,  but  have  suffered  nothing. 
(On  this  subject  the  Inquiry  is  necessarily  busied  here  and 
there  throughout ;  but  there  is  a  section  on  Fallen  Gods  in  the 
chapter  headed  "  Kronos  and  Ptah."  ) 


As  to  the  paternal  relation  of  the  gods — the  idea  of  the  **  father 
of  gods  and  of  men,"  to  whom  human  sacrifice  was  made,  who  ate 
LtPirt  \  his  own  children — it  is  needless  to  seek  any  origin 
ktenuL  }  fQf  it  other  than  the  natural  human  love,  reverence, 
and  real  fear,  if  not  hate,  felt  in  turn  for  the  producing,  protecting 
and  walloping,  the  often  killing,  and  the  once  eating,  parent 
Matriarchy  would  have  g^ven  worship  of  the  Great  Mother. 

"Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  that  thy  days  may  be 
long  in  the  land  "  was  the  beginning  of  **  the  fear  of  the  Lord  "  ; 
and  that  honour  and  that  fear  were  hammered  into  human  children 

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The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


from  the  beginning — from  the  beginning  of  the  race  as  well  as  of 
the  individual  child— until  the  feelings  have,  so  far  as  we  can 
eliminate  them  for  analysis,  become  that  for  which  we  have  formed 
the  word  Instinct. 

Ancestor-worship  is  a  mere  extension  of  father  and  mother 

reverence ;    at  need  only  an  inherited  father  and  mother  worship. 

Ancestor    \    I   have  sccn  my  father  and  mother  revering  their 

worship.  I  father  and  mother  from  my  tenderest  years ;  and 
so  I  have  learned  to  revere  them  too.  There  are  accessory 
causes  (as  there  are  in  everything)  but  it  is  practically  needless 
to  pother  about  them  here,  as  we  are  only  discussing  the  parental 
idea. 

The  head  of  the  tribe  being  the  father  of  his  people, — which  he 
was  at  first  in  the  actual  physical  sense, — and  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  are  easy  natural  stepping-stones  of  the  firmest  kind  to  the 
terms  used  in  honouring  the  gods.  To  this  day  the  Mikado  of 
Japan  is  regarded,  in  Chinese  phrase,  as  "  the  father  and  mother 
\  of  his  people."  Thus,  too,  the  gods  got  their  genealo- 
^***'  ^  gies,  and  these  dovetail  into  the  genealogies  of  men  ; 
for  actual  generative  communion  and  procreation  between  gods 
and  women,  goddesses  and  men,  is  superabundant  in  all  mytholo- 
gies. Man — perhaps  it  was  woman  ? — made  gods  in  his  own  image 
and  likeness. 

Refinements  upon  the  gross  conceptions  of  genealogy  began  to 
arise  later  ;  as  when  Phanes  "  appears,"  or  Unkulunkulu  "  came  to 
be."  The  first  god  of  all  is  then  without  parents  ;  he  is  the  great 
"  I  am  "  merely.  But  these  were,  by  the  nature  of  the  considerant, 
mere  unfiUing  figments  of  the  brain.  The  human  understanding  is 
still  incapable,  and  may  always  remain  incapable,  of  conceiving  a 
beginning  out  of  Nothing,  except  as  a  form  of  words. 

So  the  Egyptians  said  that  Ra  was  born  but  not  engendered, 
or  again  that  he  engendered  himself.  The  Phoenician  ROa'h 
becomes  enamoured  of  his  own  principle,  and  calls  the  mystic 
coalescence  Hipesh.  Or  again,  in  order  to  reconcile  the  belief  in 
divine  immortality  with  the  practice  of  human  generation,  the 
Egyptian  tied  his  mind  into  a  knot,  and  Said  that  Amen  was 
the  fecundator  of  his  own  mother.  Aditi  (Space)  the  Deva-m&tr, 
the  mother  of  the  gods,  is  said  to  be  at  once  the  mother  and  the 
daughter  of  Daksha.  Daksha  sprang  from  Aditi  and  Aditi  from 
Daksha,  who  is  the  Right,  the  Lawgiver,  the  trident-bearing  creator. 


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The  "  common  form  '*  in  Irish  mythology  of  the  reappearance  of 
an  ancestor-god  in  the  person  of  his  divine  descendant^  is  the  same 
idea  differently  expressed.  (The  subject  of  god-genesis  is  pursued 
under  the  heading  of  **The  Three  Kabeiroi.") 


MANY  a  reader  will  have  already  detected  that  the 
Revolving-Heavens,  the  Axis,  the  Polestar,  and  the  Great 
^  Bear  theories  very  considerably  neglect  the  Sun ; 
sun-'worfhip.  I  ^j^j  j^^y.  have  been  wondering  why  the  Sun  has  as 
yet  been  scarcely  mentioned.  The  fact  is  that  the  present  student 
is  not  a  Sun-worshipper,  in  so  far  as  Cosmic  and  Cosmogonic 
mainspring  myths  are  radically  concerned  ;  and  it  was  the  manifest 
insufficiency  of  the  solar  theories  to  account  for  such  myths  that 
first  prompted  the  elaboration  of  this  Inquiry, 

The  most  recent  and  valuable  r^sum6  of  this  subject  that  I  am 
aware  of  is  in  the  chapter  on  Aryan  myths  in  Dr.  Isaac  Taylor's 
Origin  of  the  Aryans,  In  my  section  on  **  Polar  versus  Solar 
Worship  "  this  subject  is  also  touched  upon  ;  and  a  great  deal  of 
further  matter  upon  the  point  is  even  kept  out ;  for  it  is  really 
beyond  the  present  scope  of  this  Inquiry,  But  it  may  here  be 
noted  that  it  is  now  a  good  long  while  since  Eusebius  in  the 
PrcBparatio  Evangelica  ridiculed,  with  a  good  deal  of  humour, 
the  old  theories  which  resolved  so  many  mythical  heroes  into 
the  Sun.  He  remarked  that  while  one  school  was  contented 
to  regard  Zeus  as  mere  fire  and  air,  another  school  recognised 
him  as  the  higher  Reason  ;  while  H^rakl^s,  Dionusos,  Apollo 
and  Askl^pios  (father  and  child)  were  all  indifferently  the 
Sun.  Mr.  Lang  has  seized  upon  this  in  his  Myth^  Ritual^  and 
Religion  (i,  17). 

Professor  Rhys  in  his  Hibbert  Lectures  on  Celtic  Heathendom 
(of  which  I  venture  to  predict  that  the  more  they  are  studied  the 

'  Prof.  Rhys*s  Hibbert  Lectures ^  431. 


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2  2  The  Night  of  the  Gods, 

greater  will  their  value  appear)  says  (p.  435)  that  the  divine  hero 
"  Cdchulainn  is  the  Sun,  but  the  sun  as  a  person  about  whom  a 
mass  of  stories  have  gathered,  some  of  which  probably  never  had 
any  reference  to  the  sun.  So  it  is  in  vain  to  search  for  a  solar  key 
to  all  the  literature  about  him."  This  is  true  not  alone  of 
Cdchulainn  but  of  every  so-called  Solar  hero  and  god  in  the 
pantheon. 

Professor  Rhys  has  some  further  natural  and  cogent  observa- 
tions (pp.  379,  466)  about  the  group  of  mythic  beings  loosely 
called  dawn-goddesses  ;  and  suggests  that  at  least  some  of  them 
would  be  as  correctly  named  dusk-goddesses.  He  even  goes  so 
far  as  to  say  that  Derborgaill  behaves  in  the  same  way  as  "a 
goddess  of  dawn  and  dusk." 

The  dawn-myth  is  a  sweetly  poetical  and  entrancing  fantasy  ; 
but  it  has  been  done  to  death.  Athene  springing  from  the 
"fc  forehead  of  Zeus  was  "  the  light  of  dawn  flashing  out 
^^^'  ^  with  sudden  splendour"  (which  it  doesn't)  "at  the 
edge  of  the  Eastern  sky "  ;  and  Hephaistos  splitting  open  that 
forehead  with  his  axe  personified  the  unrisen  Sun.  Romulus  was 
the  dawn  and  Remus  was  the  twilight.  Saoshyant  the  Zoroastrian 
Messiah  is  to  come  from  the  region  of  the  Dawn.  The  same  might 
be  maintained  of  most  of  the  stars  in  the  heavens :  they  too  rise 
"  from  the  region  of  the  Dawn "  !  Astart^  (Ashtoreth  and 
Ishtarit)  the  queen  of  heaven,  was  the  goddess  of  the  Dawn. 
Mdusine  and  Raimond  de  Toulouse  were  the  dawn  and  the  sun. 
Hermes  was  a  dawn-god  or  the  son  of  the  dawn,  or  else  twilight. 
Prokris  and  Kephalos  were  the  dawn  and  the  sun.  Erinnys  was  • 
the  dawn,  and  so  was  Daphne.  Cinderella  "grey  and  dark  and 
dull,"  was  "Aurora  the  Dawn  with  the  fairy  Prince  who  is  the 
morning  Sun  ever  pursuing  her  to  claim  her  for  his  bride."  Saram^, 
the  Dog  of  Indra,  and  the  mother  of  dogs,  was  (like  Ushas  and 
Aruna!  )  the  dawn.  Penelope  was  the  dawn  ;  and  her  fortune  was 
the  golden  clouds  of  dawn  ;  and  she  was  also  the  twilight  ;  and 
her  Web  was  the  dawn  also,  which  is  perhaps  the  reductio  of  the 
whole  thing  ad  absurdum.  The  Web  (as  here  viewed  in  the 
chapter  headed  "  Weaving  ")  is  the  gorgeous  Veil  of  the  Universe- 
god  : 

So  schafT'  ich  am  sausenden  Webstuhl  der  Zeit, 
Und  wirke  der  Gottheit  lebendiges  Kleid. 

Thus  the  dawn-maidens  and  the  sun-heroes  are  now  farther  to 


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Disputatio  Circularis.  23 

seek  than  ever;  and  (contrary  to  what  was  once  believed,  as 
above)  Aphrodite's  identification  with  Istar  has,  says  Dr.  Isaac 
Taylor,  put  an  end  to  her  appearance  in  the  part  of  the  Dawn  ; 
while  Athene,  instead  of  being  the  same  dawn  "creeping  over 
the  sky,"  is  now  "  thought  to  be"  the  lightning.  In  the  case  of 
all  these  dawn  and  solar  explanations  of  the  supremest  deities,  it 
always  seems  to  be  forgotten  that  the  day,  the  period  of  the 
heavens-revolution,  not  alone  included  the  night,  but  began  with 
it  That  the  dawn,  the  clouds,  twilight,  and  so  forth,  which 
are  mere  transient  though  striking  phases  of  the  Sphere,  should 
(in  the  firm  belief  of  modern  scientists)  have  not  alone  masked 
but  blotted  out  the  Eternal  reality  of  the  Heavens  from  the 
.  great  body  of  human  worshippers  in  ages  long  vanished,  and  so 
have  got  the  upper  hand  in  myth-ravelling,  may  well  give  us 
pause. 

However,  one  must  be  cautious  not  to  swing-back  with  the 
pendulum  too  far  in  the  other  direction  ;  but  to  admit  the  Sun  to 
its__full  share  (and  no  more)  of  original  and  syncreted  and 
assimilated  mythic  significance  and  symbolism. 

Dr.  Isaac  Taylor,  in  one  of  his  masterly  r^sum^s  in  the 
Origin  of  the  AryanSy  says  that  of  all  the  Sanskrit  analogies, 
that  of  Ouranos  and  Varuna  has  alone  survived.  But  before 
sounding  the  Hallali !  over  even  this,  we  might  humbly  trust 
that  it  may  be  given  to  us  to  see  why  there  was  a  Zeus  OZpio^ ; 
why  ovpo<i  was  a  socket  and  ovph  a  tail ;  why  oipo<;  was  a  term 
or  boundary  as  well  as  a  mountain  ;  why  ovpov  was  a  boundary 
as  well  as  space ;  and  why  (Ursa  Major  and  Minor  being 
roundabout  the  Pole)  ursus^  ursa,  ours  (French)  and  ors 
(Provencal;  are  so  close  to  oipo^  ;  and  why  Kui/ovOu/oA,  Dog- 
Tail,  was  a  name  for  the  Little  Bear  and  the  Polar  star.  Why 
should  not  Ovpav6<^  and  Ovpavia  be  the  dual  deity  of  the 
Extreme  of  the  heavens,  like  the  Chinese  Great-Extreme^  Tai-Ki 
the  Polar  deity?  This  would  make  plain  all  these  points,  and 
also  explain  (as  is  shown  in  the  course  of  this  Inquiry)  the 
name  of  IlaXti/OSpo?.  Ovpav6<;  would  thus  have  been  the  deity 
of  the  highest  polar  extreme  heavens,  before  his  name  came 
to    signify    by    extension    the    whole    sky.       Dr.    O.    Schradcr 

>^Ursus  is  now,  I  believe,  considered  to  be  certainly  identified  with  the  Greek,  npKTos, 
see  p.  46. 


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24  The  Night  of  tlie  Gods. 

says  that  "an  Indo-European^  form  for  Greek  Ou/oai/o9= Sanskrit 
VAruna  has  not  yet  been  found."* 

The  farbackest  instance  now  extant  of  this  idea  of  the  Tail  of 
the  heavens  is  perhaps  to  be  found  in  the  explanation  of  the 
stellar  universe  preserved  to  us  in  the  Vishmi-ptirAna^  where  it  has 
the  shape  of  a  porpoise,  Sisum^ra,  at  the  heart  of  which  is  Vishnu, 
while  Dhruva  the  Polestar-god  is  in  its  tail.  "  As  Dhruva  turns 
he  causes  the  sun  moon  and  other  planets  to  revolve  also  ;  and 
the  lunar  asterisms  follow  in  his  circular  course,  for  all  the 
celestial  lights  are  in  fact  bound  to  the  Polestar  by  airy 
cords."^  Thus — not  to  be  irreverent — it  was  the  ts^il  that  wagged 
the  dog. 

*  It  is  proposed  in  this  Inquiry  to  employ  Mr.  E.  R.  Wharton's  convenient  and 
logical  term  Celtindic  instead  of  Indo-Celtic,  Indo-Germanic,  Indo-European  or  Aryan. 
Under  the  heading  of  "  The  White  Wall  "  it  is  also  suggested  that  the  genuine  original 
signification  of  the  Aryans  was  the  bright^  white^  shining  star-gods  of  the  heavens  ;  and 
that  the  adjectival  name  was  taken  by  priests  and  people  from  their  gods,  from  whom,  by 
a  universal  human  bent,  they  claimed  and  traced  their  descent 

'  Jevons*s  Prehist,  Aryan  Antiq.  412.     See  also  the  note  at  p.  46. 

5  See  what  is  said  elsewhere  as  to  Seirios  (Sinus). 


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Disputatio  Circularis.  25 


THE  practical  labour  in  composing  this   Book  has   been   to 
collect  and  focus  on  the  several  salient  points  of  the  general 
Tht  Method.  )    subject  some  of  the  endless  traces  of  the  Divinities  of 

{again)  j  ^-j^g  Univcrse-machine,  its  Axis,  and  its  Poles,  which 
are  to  be  found  scattered  and  lost  or  in  the  curious  condition  of 
the  open  secret  in  myth,  legend,  etymon,  sacred  literature,  or 
common  idioms.  That  this  task  is  a  practically  endless  one  has 
been  often  forced  in  upon  the  writer ;  but  the  best  that  could  be 
done  in  a  limited  number  of  years  has  been  done ;  and  now  that 
the  snowball  has  once  been  set  rolling  it  may  perhaps  more 
rapidly  accrete.  One-man-power  is  a  sadly  insufficient  force  (sadly 
inefficient  too,  as  the  writer  keenly  feels)  to  apply  to  such  a  mass 
of  matter. 

The  divine  Plato  and  the  marvellous  Kant  (wrote  Schopen- 
hauer)^ unite  their  mighty  voices  in  recommending  a  rule  to  serve 
as  thq  method  of  all  philosophising,  as  well  as  of  all  other  science 
Two  laws,  they  tell  us  :  the  law  of  homogeneity  and  the  law  ol 
specification,  should  be  equally  observed,  neither  to  the  disadvantage 
of  the  other.  The  first  law  directs  us  to  collect  things  together  into 
kinds,  by  observing  their  resemblances  and  correspondences;  to 
collect  kinds  again  into  species,  species  into  genera,  and  so  on,  till 
at  last  we  come  to  the  highest  all-comprehensive  conception.  As 
for  the  law  of  specification,  it  requires  that  we  should  clearl> 
distinguish  one  from  another  the  different  genera  collected  under 
one  coniprehensive  conception ;  likewise  that  we  should  not 
confound  the  higher  and  lower  species  comprised  in  each  genus ; 
that  we  should  be  careful  not  to  overleap  any — and  so  forth. 

The  first  of  these  rules  (which,  Plato  answers  for  it,  were  flung 
down  from  the  seat  of  the  gods  with  the  Promethean  fire)  is,  it  is 
trusted,  fairly  well  observed  in  this  Inquiry  ;  but  as  for  the  second 
— well,  the  gigantic  Octopus  of  mythology  will  not  rule  out  as 
straight  as  the  avenues  of  a  brand-new  American  city.  It  is 
impossible  even  to  arrange  the  chapters  and  sub-sections  in  an 

*  Two  Essays  by  Arthur  Schopenhauer.      (Bohns  Series,    1889.)    An  admirable 
anonymous  translation. 


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26  The  Night  of  the  Gods. 

ascending  order  of  relative  importance,  or  to  prevent  every  chapter 
and  sub-section  from  tangling  its  tentaculae  into  every  other. 

It  is  feared  also  that  the  constant  struggle  towards  such  a 
logical  arrangement,  and  the  endless  cross-references  indispensable 
to  the  student  that  wrote  and  the  students  that  read,  have  ruined 
all  literary  effect,  and  so  ensured  the  fatigue  of  the  most  willing 
reader.  For  this,  the  indulgence  of  his  second  thoughts  is  craved. 
However  strong  the  original  desire  may  have  been  to  make  this 
Book  light  reading,  it  was  very  soon  found  out  in  the  practical 
composition  of  it  that  the  desire  was  to  be  another  of  the  myriads 
that  remain  unsatisfied.  However,  by  condemning  the  driest  of 
the  stuff  to  a  smaller  type,  I  often  venture  to  invite  the  reader  to 
that  blessed  pastime  of  skipping,  which  has  so  much  to  do  with  the 
flourishing  of  circulating  libraries  ;  and  even — it  is  sad  to  think — 
with  the  popularity  of  "  our  best  authors." 

To  provide  an  antidote,  in  the  absence  of  a  preventive  of  all  this 
faultiness,  a  very  full  Index  is  offered.  And  thus,  to  those  who 
-k  find  the  book  dislocated  and  discursive,  and  therefore 
^  obscure,  I  shall  not  have  the  assurance  to  say,  as 
Stephenson  did  of  the  Drinkwater  Canal,  *'  Puddle  it  again  ! " ;  but 
shall  in  all  humility  ask  them  to  read-up  any  puzzling  point  by  the 
Index,  which  (E.  and  O.  E.)  is  as  good  as  I  could  make  it 

A  tentative  and  suggestive  rather  than  a  demonstrative 
treatment  of  the  very  complicated  and  treacherous  subjects  dealt- 
with  has  generally  proved  imperative.  This  may  convey  a 
sensation  of  lack  of  definiteness  ;  but  even  that  reproach  is  in  such 
speculations  preferable  to  an  accusation  of  cocksuredness  and 
dogmatism.  It  has  been  the  constant  desire,  too,  to  invite  the 
Reader  to  draw  his  own  conclusions,  rather  than  to  hammer  away 
at  him  with  perpetual  and  perhaps  superfluous  pointing  of  the 
moral.  Every  student  of  mythology  must  still  say,  as  Sheffield 
said  of  his  writings  :  dubius,  sed  non  improbus — full  of  doubt,  but 
open  to  proof.  And,  of  course,  it  goes  without  telling  that  the 
term  '*  Disputatio "  is  here  used  in  its  mildest  classic  sense  of 
examination,  consideration. 

While  everywhere  '*  making  for "  accuracy,  endeavours  have 
been  also  made  to  avoid  iotacismus.  As  the  late  and  justly 
honoured  Francois  Lenormant  wrote*  of  one  of  his  books :  Sans 
aucundouteon  relevera  dans  ce  livrc  dcs  fautcs,  des  erreurs.     Elles 

*  Otigiues  de  thistoire  (1880)  i,  xxi. 


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Disputatio  Circularise  27 

^taient  inevitables  dans  une  recherche  aussi  ^tendue,  sur  des 
mati^res  aussi  dlfficiles.  Mais  du  moins,  ce  que  devront  je  crois 
reconnaltre  les  censeurs  m^me  les  plus  s^v^res,  c'est  que  T^tude  a 
ete  poursuivie  consciencieusement  .  .  .  J'ai  pu  me  tromper, 
mais  9'a  ete  toujours  avec  une  enti^re  bonne  foi,  et  en  me  defendant 
de  mon  mieux  centre  Tesprit  de  systime.  Hume  justly  admired 
Rousseau's  lament  that  half  a  man's  life  was  too  short  a  time  for 
writing  a  book  ;  while  the  other  half  was  too  brief  for  correcting  it. 


I  shall  feel  very  grateful  to  every  one  who  has  the  patience  to 
go  through  this  Book  in  a  critical  and  enquiring  frame  of  mind, 
Rtadm*tmdhe\  especially  if  he  will  be  so  good  as  to  communicate 
notwnfth.  j  ^Q  jYie  (either  privately  or  publicly)  the  errors  and 
difficulties  which  must  infallibly  be  detected.  The  more  searching 
and  unsparing  the  criticisms  are,  the  better  will  they  be  for  the 
final  result  of  the  Inquiry  which  is  their  object  One  leading 
reason  for  two  heads  with  four  ^y^s  being  better  than  one  head 
with  two,  is  that  they  enjoy  the  faculty,  now  generally  denied  to 
Sir  Boyle  Roche's  notorious  bird,  of  being  in  two  places  at  once  ; 
and  thus  possibly  getting  independent  views  of  any  one  object 


It  must  be  in  great  part  an  author's  indivestible  prejudice  for 
his  own  production  ;  but  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  there  is 
something  that  will  remain  even  after  the  most  destructive 
criticism  of  the  theories  here  advocated.  One  ^clatante  proof  of 
their  likelihood  is  the  universal  encounter,  the  endless  ramifications 
and  persistent  up-cropping  throughout  mythology,  of  the  evidences 
on  which  they  are  based.  It  is  hardly  credible,  either,  that  false 
unfounded  suppositions  should  be  so  coherent  in  their  numerous 
phases. 

Should  any  of  these  theories  survive  the  ordeal  to  which  they 
are  now  surrendered,  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  be  even  possible  for 
some  few  wide  readers  of  critical  and  willing  minds  to  come 
together  and  help  in  indicating  and  collecting  further  evidences  of 
Heavens  and  Polestar  Worship,  either  in  the  directions  here 
inadequately  sketched  out,  or  in  others. 

JOHN  O'NEILL. 
Trafalgar  House,  Selling, 

BY  Faversham, 
\Xtk  February  189 1. 


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28  The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


A  SHORT  series  of  brief  articles  on  a  few  of  the  theories  here  urged 
^  appeared  in  print  some  three  years  ago* ;  and  I  trust  I  do  not  con\mit 
too  great  a  breach  of  etiquette  in  here  thanking  so  eminent  a  publicist  as  my 
kind  friend  Mr.  Frederick  Greenwood  for  the  space  which  he  afforded  them. 

That  one  writer  on  any  subject  human  or  divine  should  borrow  from  others 
has,  at  this  stage  of  the  literature  of  the  world  become  inevitable  ;  and  a 
comparative  study  like  the  present  necessarily  borrows  its  materials  from 
innumerable  quarters ;  but  nothing  has  been  wittingly  taken  or  set  down 
without  acknowledgment  (in  so  far  as  reasonable  space  would  admit).  The 
crime  has  been  committed  from  time  to  time,  in  matters  not  of  primary 
importance,  of  copying  references  in  trustworthy  books  without  actually 
running  them  down  in  the  original  authorities.  And  it  would  have  been  an 
endless  and  fruitless  work  of  repetition  to  have  given  individual  references  to 
the  mere  mythological-dictionary  matter  throughout. 

This  Inquiry  owes  much  to  many  friends  and  to  many  other  writers  ; 
though  they  are  in  no  way  answerable  for  the  present  deductions  from  their 
facts,  and  would  perhaps  hasten  to  repudiate  my  theories.  There  is  as  yet, 
thank  Heavens,  no  such  thing  as  orthodoxy  in  Mythology  ;  its  field  is  one  vast 
prairie  or  rolling  veldt,  where  every  man  may  "  put  out  ^  and  trek  and  lager 
for  himself. 

Some  names  have  already  been  mentioned,  and  to  these  must  be  added 
Dr.  W.  F.  Warren,  the  able  and  versatile  president  of  Boston  University  (Mass.), 
whose  books  on  Cosmology  are  a  mass  of  erudition  and  suggestion,'  although 
many  may  regret  they  cannot  go  all  the  way  with  him  in  some  of  his  conclusions. 
His  active  readiness  to  assist  students  is  well  known,  and  I  have  often 
acknowledged  my  separate  obligations  throughout  this  Inquiry 

It  was  subsequently  to  an  examination  of  the  late  Lazarus  Geiger's 
Dertelopmeni  of  the  Human  Rac^  and  M.  Henri  Gaidoz's  Le  Dieu  Gaulois  du 
Soldi  et  le  symbolisme  de  la  Rouef  that  the  Wheel  and  Winged  Sphere  theories 
here  advocated  took  their  final  shape,  llie  name  of  the  latter  distinguished 
mythologist  and  Celtic  scholar  is  frequently  invoked  ;  and  his  criticisms  have 
been  highly  valued. 

To  Professor  Sayce  of  Oxford  and  Professor  Gustav  Schlegel  of  Leiden  I 
am  indebted  for  kind  encouragement,  interest  in  my  labours,  and  suggestions. 
To  the  latter's  wonderful  Uranographie  Chinoise  most  of  the  matter  on  the 
Chinese  Sphere  is  due;  and  with  great  generosity  he  has  read  my  proof-sheets. 

My  manuscript  was  indexed  before  reading  Professor  Robertson  Smith's 

>  **  Northern  Lights,"  in  the  St,  Jameis  Gazette,  December  1887. 
'  E,g,    The  true  Key  to  ancient  Cosmology  and  Mythical  Geography,  and  Paradise 
Found :    The  cradle  of  the  human  race  at  the  North  Pole, 

'  Lectures  and  Disserta*iom,     Translation  of  Dr.  David  Asher  :  Triibner  s  1880. 
*  Paris,  Leroux,  1886. 


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Dispulatio  Circularis.  29 

Religion  of  the  Semites  (vol.  i).  The  valuable  corroborative  references  to 
that  very  able  book  have  therefore  been  inserted  after  this  Book  was  practically 
complete.  I  owe  him  besides  my  thanks  for  his  personal  encouragement  and 
criticism. 

Some  of  Sir  G.  Birdwood's  work  upon  symbol  questions  was  still,  he 
regrets  to  confess,  unstudied  by  the  writer  when  the  MS.  was  ready  for  the 
press  ;  still,  several  references  (notably  as  to  the  deduction  of  the  number 
Seven  from  Ursa  Major)  have,  even  so  been  inserted ;  and  the  writer  has 
besides  to  express  his  indebtedness  to  that  authority  upon  Indian  symbolism 
for  excellent  suggestions  and  much  too  indulgent  criticism. 

Mr.  Herbert  D.  Darbishire  of  St  John's  College,  Cambridge,  an  expert  in 
classical  etymology,  has  been  good  enough  to  go  through  some  of  the  work, 
and  to  point  out  the  most  erratic  of  my  views.  Of  course  he  is  in  no  way 
answerable  for  any  of  my  aberrations. 

Japanese  mythology  has  been  taken  as  the  starting-point  of  the  Inquiry^ 
partly  because  of  a  slender  acquaintance  of  some  years'  standing  with 
Japanese,^  and  chiefly  because  of  its  aptness  to  the  matter  in  hand,  and  its 
general  neglect.  In  this  I  have  to  acknowledge  the  greatest  obligations  to  my 
old  friends  Mr.  E.  M.  Satow  and  Mr.  W.  G.  Aston,  the  authorities  on  the 
subject,  whose  patience  in  bearing  with  me  is  far  beyond  the  return  of  ordinary 
gratitude.  Attention  is  also  frequently  drawn  to  Professor  B.  H.  Chamberlain's 
labours,  especially  his  great  translation  of  the  Kojiki^  so  profitable  to  the 
student. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  Chinese  characters  and  Egyptian  hieroglyphs  scattered 
through  the  book  will  not  frighten  people  away.  They  are  often  inserted  only 
to  save  certain  students  the  trouble  of  referring  to  other  books.  The  writer's 
acquaintance  with  either  language  is  limited  in  the  extreme,  and  he  has  here  to 
express  his  obligations  to  his  old  friend  Professor  R.  K.  Douglas  and  Mr. 
E.  A.  Wallis  Budge  of  the  British  Museum  for  their  very  kind  correction  of  his 
blunders  in  these  matters. 

All  the  facts  relating  to  the  Dervtshes  have  been  submitted  to  the  excellent 
Sh^kh  of  the  Mevlevt  Tekk6  of  Cyprus,  the  devout  and  kindly  Ess^id  Mustafa 
Safvet  DM^,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  many  facts,  and  for  the  stones  of  the 
Dervishes  which  are  here  figured. 

The  lowest  deep  of  ingratitude  would  be  reached  by  anyone  who  works 
steadily  at  myth,  symbol,  and  religion  if  he  did  not  again  and  again  declare  the 
fruit  he  has  at  every  handsturn  gathered  from  Professor  F.  Max  Muller's 
valiant  undertaking  and  great  achievement.  The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  The 
valuable  work  especially  of  M.  James  Darmesteter,  Dr.  Legge,  and  Mr.  E.  W. 
West  in  the  volumes  of  that  series  has  been  perpetually  used  and  referred-to 
throughout  And  in  this  connection  should  again  be  mentioned  another  most 
important  Japanese  sacred  book  (which  is  not  in  the  Series)  Mr.  B.  H. 
Chamberlain's  Kojiki} 

*  Nishi-Higashi  Kotoba  no  Yenishi ;   A  first  Japanese  Book  for  English  students, 
by  John  O'Neill ;  London,  Harrison  &  Sons,  1874. 

*  Trans,  As.  Soc  Japan,  vol.  x. 


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30 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


f  n  M  1 1 

1  T  1  ?  t 

i  1  1  1  f  1 

If^IlT^ 

1  f  1  i  i  i  1 

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Axis    Myths. 


I    The  Axis  as  Spear,  Pike,  or  Pal. 

2.  The  God  Picus. 

3.  Divine  names  in  Pal-. 

4   The  Rod  and  Rhabdomancy. 

5.  The  Fleur-de-Lis  at  the  Axis-point. 

6.  The  Trident. 

7.  The  A6pv  and  "Apm)  of  Kronos. 

8.  Divine  Names  in  Harp-  and  Dor-. 


I. — The  Spear,  Pike,  or  Pal. 

IN  the  cosmogony  which  the  Japanese  fondly  believe  to  be 
purely  native,  all  the  heavenly  gods,  the  Kami,  designate  two 
of  their  number,  Izansigi.  and  Izanami,  male  and  female, 
brother  and  sister,  to  "  make,  consolidate,  and  give  birth "  to  the 
land  of  Japan.  For  this  purpose  they  are  provided  with  a 
heavenly  spear  made  of  "  a  jewel."  The  pair  stood  on  the  "  floating 
Bridge  of  Heaven,"  and  stirred  round  the  ocean  with  the  spear^ 
until  the  brine  was  churned  into  the  foam  which  has  given  their 
German  name  to  Meerschaum  pipes.  As  the  spear  was  withdrawn, 
some  of  this  coagulated  matter,  or  curdled  foam,  dropped  from  its 
point,  and  was  heaped-up  until  it  became  an  island,  the  name  of 
which  means  self-curdled,  Onogoro. 

This  Island  has  long  been  our  property  in  Greek  myth.  Delos 
was  the  centre  or  hub  of  the  Cyclades,  which  were  so  called  "  from 
a  wheel,"  aTro  kvkXov,  and  were  situated  irepl  avrifv  rfjp  AijXoVy 
around  this  very  Delos  ;  and  AijXo^  (Se€Xo9)  also  meaning  manifest, 
it  was  said  that  the  island  was  so  called  because  it  became  manifest, 
suddenly  emerged  from  the  sea.  This  seems  a  truly  extraordinary 
parallel  to  Onogoro  the  "  self-formed  "  (or  curdled)  island  ;  and  as 
for  its  churning  there  is  the  similar  operation,  the  "  cycling  "  of  the 

*  Mr.  B.  H.  Chamberlain's  Koiiki^  pp.  18,  19. 


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32  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

Cyclades,  of  which  D^os  was  the  nucleus,  the  centre.  One  account 
of  its  origin  said  Poseiddn  with  one  blow  of  his  trident  made  it 
surge  from  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  a  still  further  amazing 
coincidence  with  the  Japanese  legend,  for  it  gives  us  the  spear  of 
Izanagi.  D^los  floated  at  first,  but  became  fixed  when  Lat6  had 
brought  forth,  at  the  (Universe)  Olive-tree  there,  or  else  when  her 
son  Apollo  fixed  it.  The  coming  of  Lat6  to  the  island,  if  the  name 
be  understood  of  a  stone-pillar,  an  al-L^t,  is  a  reproduction  of  the 
pillar  of  the  Japanese  island. 

[The  Reader  must  get  at  least  as  far  as  "  Divine  names  in  Lat-"  before 
giving  its  full  weight  to  this.] 

The  orders  to  the  Japanese  pair  were  "  to  make,  consolidate,  and 
give  birth  to  this  drifting  land."*  Hatori  Nakatsune,  a  celebrated 
native  commentator,  said  that  Onogoro  was  originally  at  the  North 
Pole  but  was  subsequently  moved  to  its  present  position.* 

Another  name  of  Delos,  'Oprvylay  may  have  nothing,  to  do  with 
the  6pTv^  or  quail,  as  an  old  construing  would  have  it.  It  may  be, 
I  suggest,  from  Spoj  to  stir- up,  to  rise  (we  have  exactly  what  we 
want  in  the  Latin  ortus,  from  orior)  and  7^  or  yea  or  yata,  the 
Earth  (although  I  believe  that  under  the  philological  rules  of  letter- 
changes  as  they  stand  there  is  no  way  in  which  either  yala  or  yij 
could  become  -yia).  If  however  oprvyia  and  SpTv^  are  to  be 
referred  to  a  same  origin,  we  should  have  to  take  the  sense  of 
"  dancing  "  or  twirling :  Latin  verto,  Lithuanian  wersti  turn,  Welsh 
gwerthyd  spindle,  Sanskrit  vart  turn,  vartakas  quail ;  which  would 
make  it  the  turned  land  ;  and  would  entail  a  meaning  absolutely 
similar  to  that  of  all  the  Varshas  of  HindQ  mythic  cosmogony.  It 
would  thus  be  the  churned,  or  the  up-risen  land.  Yet  another 
Ddos  origin-myth  is  this  :  Asterie  was  the  daughter  of  Polos  (the 
polar  deity  ?)  and  mother  of  Herakl^s  ;  or  altrd  she  was  daughter 
of  the  Titan  Koios — the  hoUower  (of  the  heavens)  ?,  and  sister  of 
Lat6.  Zeus  cast  her  into  the  Cosmic  Ocean — the  fate  of 
innumerable  deities — and  where  she  fell  arose  the  island  of  Asteria 
or  Ortugia  or  Ddlos.  Asteria  was  also  changed  into  a  quail,  which 
is  a  variant  of  the  muddle  already  mentioned,  and  really  means 
that  Asterifi  and  Ortugia  were  one  and  the  same. 

Again  we  have  the  churning  idea  in  the  Strophad^s,  the  turning- 
islands,  of  the  Argo-voyage.  They  were  also  called  Pldt^s,  the 
Floaters;    **And  so  it  is  that  men   call   those  isles  the   isles  of 

*  Kojikif  p.  18.  '  Mr.  E.  M.  Satow's  Pure  Shinid^  68. 


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MythsJ]  The  Spear  Pike  or  Pal.  zi 

turning,  though  aforetime  they  called  them  the  floating  isles."^ 
The  change  of  name  was  connected  with  the  descent  of  the 
bird-gods,  the  harpies. 

Rhodes,  spun  on  the  golden  spindle  of  Lachesis  at  the  prayer 
of  Hdios,  is  I  venture  to  suggest  a  similar  myth  (see  "The 
Romaunt  of  the  Rose,"  later  on)  ;  and  so  is  Corcyra  (Corfu)  whose 
name  KopKvpa  comes  from  xepxi^y  a  spindle.  EupuTrvXo?  son  of 
Poseid6n,  or  a  Triton,  gave  a  c/od  of  earth  to  Eij^rffw^,  another  son 
of  Poseid6n,  and  an  Argo-sailor,  light  in  the  course,  skilful  in 
chariot-driving.  This  clod  fell  into  the  Ocean,  or  was  thrown  into 
it  by  Euph^mos  on  the  counsel  of  Jason  (I^s6n)  ;  and  on  the 
instant  became  the  island  Kallist^.  Here,  though  we  have  no 
spear,  we  have  a  /r/dent-god,  the  Triton. 

In  the  Argonautikdn  (iv,  1552,  1562)  Trit6n,  in  the  guise  of  a 
youth,  takes  up  the  clod,  and  Euph^mos  (The  Good  Word?)  accepts 
it,  and  has  a  very  strange  vision  about  it  (1734  etc.)  which  recalls 
the  union  of  heavens  and  earth.  The  clod  speaks  as  a  woman, 
says  she  is  the  daughter  of  Trit6n,  and  asks  to  be  given  back  to  the 
deep  nigh  unto  the  Isle  of  Appearing,  'Kva^%  "  and  I  will  come 
back  to  the  sunlight."  He  flings  the  clod,  the  /3&\o^y  into  the  deep 
(1756),  and  therefrom  arose  the  island  Kallist^  (that  is  the  most 
beauteous,  simply)  also  called  Th^r^s  or  Th^ra ;  which  is  one  of 
our  Divine  names  in  The-.  Th^ras  son  of  Autesidn  (Self-made  ?) 
brought  men  there,  after  the  time  of  Euph^mos.  This  brings  the 
voyage  of  the  Argo  (in  the  Argonautikdn)  somewhat  abruptly  to  an 
end.  But  the  event  and  the  ending  may  be  thought  perfectly 
appropriate,  if  it  be  looked  upon  as  a  legend  of  the  creation  of  the 
Earth  by  the  divine  Word.  The  previous  voyage  of  the  Argo 
would  thus  be  a  pre-terrestrian  series  of  celestial  cosmic  legends  ; 
and  if  this  view  be  novel,  it  is  not  devoid  of  supports. 

[See  too  what  is  said  of  Crete  under  the  head  of  the  Loadstone  mountain.] 

I  think  no  other  interpretation  of  any  of  these  "islands  "  will 
suffice,  except  that  which  views  them  all  as  allegories  of  the  Earth 
itself  And  I  now  (upon  the  completion  of  the  MS.  of  this 
Inquiry)  add  the  deliberate  conclusion  that  this  churning  of  the 
Island  is  a  leading  and  world-wide  Creation-myth,  of  which  tlie  real 
significance  is  the  spinning,  stirring-round,  or  churning  of  tlie  Earth 
{figured'forth  as  insulated  in  the  Universe)  by  Deity,  out  of  the 
Cosmic  Ocean  of  the  Waters,  the  Chaos  of  other  cosmogonies.     The 

*  Argonautikdn,  \\,  296. 

C 


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34  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

Hindd  Bhirata  (or  Churned  ?)  Varsha  may  be  another  example  of 
the  myth. 

Another  island,  which  must  reluctantly  be  left  for  future  investigation  is 
"  the  isle  of  £lektra  daughter  of  Atlas  "  where  the  Argo  was  beached  in  order 
that  her  crew  might  be  initiated.*  This  island  is  explained  as  SamoThrak^,  the 
mysteries  being  those  of  the  Kabeiroi,  patrons  of  mariners.  But  it  was  also 
nigh  to  the  heavens-river  feridanos,'  was  sacred,  and  was  the  chiefest  of  isles. 
The  Argonauts  also  visited  the  island  of  KirW,  and  in  describing  their  visit  to 
Korkura  (Corcyra)  Apollonius*  gave  us  its  oldest  name  of  Drepan^,  and  the 
legend  of  the  origin  of  that  name,  which  was  that  beneath  it  lay  the  drepan^  or 
sickle  with  which  Kronos  mutilated  his  sire,  alias  the  harp^  in  fact  This 
sickle  was  also  said  to  be  the  "  harpS ''  of  Ai/d^  XB6vi.a^  that  is  the  Earth-goddess 
D^M^t^r  ;  for  D66  once  lived  in  that  land,  and  taught  the  Titans  to  reap  the 
corn-crop  for  her  love  of  Makris  (which  is  too  dryptic  and  perhaps  corrupt  to 
arrest  us).  Makris  was  also  a  name  of  the  island,  and  so  was  Scheri^  or 
Scheria  (Order  ?  Law,  T4o).  However  much  these  indidetlts  and  names  have 
got  muddled,  they  indicate  the  Earth,  as  an  island  in  the  Universe-Ocean.  Its 
inhabitants  the  PhaiSk^s  were  of  the  blood  of  Ouranos. 

We  have  the  island  turning  up  later  in  Japano-Buddhic  myth 
when  an  Apsaras  appears  in  the  clouds  over  the  spot  inhabited 
by  a  dragon.  An  island  suddenly  rises  up  out  of  the  sea,  she 
descends  upon  it  and  there  espouses  the  dragon  who  is  thus 
becalmed.* 

"  According  to  Babylonian  thought,  the  Earth  came  forth  from 
the  waters,  and  rested  on  the  waters."* 

The  island  Hawaiki,  the  only  land  then  known,  perhaps,  is  clearly  put  for 
the  Earth  in  a  New  Zealand  hymn  which  says  "  the  sky  that  floats  above  dwelt 
with  Hawaiki  and  produced  "  certain  other  islands.  Hawaiki  here  is  for  Papa 
the  Earth-goddess,  and  the  sky  for  Rangi  the  heavens-god.* 

There  is  another  curious  parallel  to  part  of  the  Japanese 
creation-legend,  in  the  HindCl  allegory  in  which  the  gods  and  the 
demons,  standing  opposite  to  each  other,  use  the  great  serpent 
V4sukt  as  a  rope,  and  the  mountain  Meru  or  Mandara  as  a  pivot 
and  a  churning-rod-^the  "properties"  have  got  mixed — and  chum 
the  milky  ocean  of  the  universe  violently  until  fourteen  inestimable 
typical  objects  emerge.^  One  of  these  is  the  Universe-Tree 
P&rij^ti,  bearing  all  the  objects  of  desire. 

Plate  49  in  Moor's  HindA  Pantheon  clearly  makes  the  mountain  a  central 

'  Argon.  ^  i,  916.  '  Argon, ,  iv,  505.  '  Argon,  ^  iv,  990. 

*  Satow  and  Hawes's  Handbook, 

'  Dr.  E.  G.  King's  Akkadian  Genesis  (1888),  p.  32. 

•  Taylor  :  New  Zealand^  p.  1 10. 

'  Guignaut*8  Creurer's  Relig,  de  VAntiq,^  i,  184.     Sir  Monier  Williams  ;  Hinduism » 
105  ;  I^el,  Thought  and  Life  in  India,  i,  108,  344. 


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MylAs.Ji  The  Spear  Pike  or  Pal.  35 

conical  axial  peak.  It  rests  on  the  Tortoise  (Vishnu  in  the  Kurmivat^ra),  and 
Vishnu  in  youthful  human  form  is  seated  on  the  summit  of  Mandara.  Vishnu 
is  also  seen  among  the  gods  who,  pull-devil-pull-baker  fashion,  haul  the  serpent 
V4suki  against  the  homed  Asuris. 


The  modem  Japanese  conmientator  Hirata  Atsutane  (1776- 1843)  said  that 
the  stirring  round  with  the  spear  was  the  origin  of  the  revolution  of  the  earth.* 
Sir  Edward  Reed'  repeated  this  theory  of  the  spear  being  the  Axis  from  Hatori 
Nakatsime  ;  and  Dr.  Warren'  cites  Sir  E.  Reed.  It  would  be  extremely 
interesting  if  we  could  consider  this  to  be  an  indigenous  idea  ;  but  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  there  was  one  important  modem  source  of  information  as  to 
Western  Ptolemaic  Astronomy  which  was  doubtless  open  to  Hirata,  in  the 
treatises  written  in  Chinese  by  the  Jesuit  Missionaries  to  China,  by  Sabatin  de 
Ursis  in  1611  and  Emmanuel  Diaz  in  1614,  and  by  others  later."*  Hirata  too 
may  have  acquired  at  Nagasaki  some  further  tincture  of  Western  learning. 

Another  case  of  creation  by  the  spear  is  the  achievement  of 
Ath^n^  when  she  struck  the  ground  and  brought  forth  the  Olive. 
Here  we  get  the  two  axis-symbols  of  the  tree  and  spear  together  ; 
and  the  spear-axis  not  merely  produces  the  Earth  but  the  whole 
Universe,  which  the  tree  figures  forth.  And  was  not  the  aged 
stump  of  this  fallen  miracle  shown  in  the  temple  of  Erechtheus 
on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens,*  as  the  original  of  all  the  olive-trees  in 
the  world  ? 

There  is  yet  another  strange  parallel  to  the  Japanese  spear- 
myth  in  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega.*  The  Inca  told  him  that  Our 
Father  (the  Sun)  sent  down  from  heaven  two  of  his  children,  son 
and  daughter,  near  the  Marsh  (Japanese  Ashihara)  of  Titicaca ; 
and  when  they  desired  to  rest  anywhere,  they  were  to  stick  into 
the  ground  a  golden  rod,  two  fingers  thick  and  half-an-ell  long, 
which  he  expressly  gave  them  as  an  infallible  sign  of  his  will  that 
wherever  it  would  enter  the  earth  at  one  push,  there  he  desired 
that  they  should  halt,  establish  themselves,  and  hold  their  court. 
After  several  fruitless  efforts,  the  golden  rod  pierced  the  ground  at 
the  site  of  Cuzco,  and  embedded  itself  so  completely  that  they 
never  saw  it  more.    We  shall  see  that  Cuzco  was  an  omphalos. 

Hatori's  and  Hirata's  gloss  that  Onogoro,  when  formed,  lay  under  the  Pivot 
of  the  vault  of  heaven,  the  North  Pole,  although  it  has  since  moved  to  the 
present  latitude  of  Japan — may  (or  may  not)  conceal  a  recognition  of  the  revolu- 
tion of  the  equatorial  round  the  equinoctial  pole,  which  revolution  is  completed 
n  about  25,868  years.     Of  course  this  causes  no  change  of  the  terrestrial  pole. 

*  Pure  Shinid,  6Z.  ^  Japatty  i,  31.  '  Paradise  Founds  141. 

*  Wylie  :  Notes  on  Chinese  Literature^  87.  *  Botticher  :  BaumcuU^  107,  423. 

*  Baudoin's  French  edition,  Aroste  dam  1704,  i,  63,  66. 

C   2 


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36  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

It  is  at  least  curious  that  the  churning  legend  could  also  be  fitted  to 
the  theory  of  the  evolution  of  solar  systems  from  revolving  nebulous  matter, 
to  which  attention  will  again  be  directed  farther  on  as  regards  a  Chinese 
speculation. 

[Professor  Oliver  Lodge,*  in  adopting  Sir  Wm.  Thomson's  theory  of  vortex 
atoms,  has  suggested  a  universal  substance  in  space,  some  portions  of  which 
are  either  at  rest,  or  in  simple  irrotational  motion,  while  others  are  in  rotational 
motion — in  vortices,  that  is.  These  whirling  portions  constitute  what  we  call 
matter  ;  their  motion  gives  them  rigidity.  This  is  a  modem  view  of  Ether  and 
its  {MTicixons,— Nature  i  Feb.  1883,  p.  330.] 


This  mythic  Spear  may  be  recognised  again  in  the  shadowless 
lance*  which  in  the  Alexander  legends  the  hero  plucks  either  out 
of  Atlas  or  out  of  the  topmost  peak  of  the  Taurus  mountains  ;  and 
in  the  golden  blade  with  which  the  Iranian  Jemshid  pierced  the 
bosom  of  the  earth.^ 

The  Nagelring  sword  of  Nithathr  and  of  Hotherus  in  Saxo  Grammaticus 
{Hist,  Dan,  p.  no)  belongs  to  the  same  armoury.*  It  is  made  by  Volund  (that 
is  Weyland  the  smith,  Hephaistos)  and  is  of  untold  value  ;  getting  possession 
of  it  puts  the  Asa-gods  to  flight ;  it  is  in  the  remote  regions  of  the  direst  frost ; 
in  a  subterranean  cave  (that  is,  plunged  in  the  Earth) ;  Nithathr  surprises 
Volund  and  takes  the  sword  ;  its  companion  is  a  marvellous  Ring,  which 
becomes  an  arm-ring  in  the  myths,  and  is  called  Draupnir,  from  which  eight 
rings  (making  nine)  drop  every  ninth  night.  Volund's  smithy  (the  heavens)  is 
therefore  full  of  rings. 

The  hasta  set  up  in  the  ground  during  the  judicial  debates  of 
the  centumvires  is  another  re-appearance  of  the  Axis,  at  the  point 
of  which  sits  the  world-judge.  (Hasta  posita  pro  aede  Jovis 
Statoris.  Cicero^  Phil,  ii,  26,  64)  and  the  Sheriffs  javelin-men 
doubtless  give  us  a  relict  of  the  Roman  curis,  of  the  spear  of  the 
Judge  of  heaven. 


The  pair  of  Japanese  Kami  immediately  took  possession  of 
their  island — which,  as  above,  we  must  by  extension,  understand 
as  the  Earth — and  having  firmly  planted  their  spear  therein,  made 
a  heavens-Pillar  of  it*  Heaven  and  earth  were  then  very  close  to 
each  other,  we  are  told,  and  so,  when  this  divine  couple  sent  their 
daughter,  Amaterasu,  or  Heaven-shine,  to  rule  as  goddess  of  the 
Sun   the   lofty  expanse  of  heaven,  she  went  up   the   Pillar  or 

*  Lecture  at  London  Institution,  December  1882.  '  Paradise  Founds  135. 

*  Guignaut*s  Creuzer*s  Kelig.  de  VAnLy  i,  335,  375. 

*  Rydberg*s  Teut,  Myth,,  1889,  p.  43a  *  Chamberlain's  Kojiki,  19,  37.2. 


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Myths,']  The  Spear  Pike  or  Pal,  37 

Hashira.^  The  name  Amaterasu  has  as  strong  a  likeness  as  can 
well  be  expected  to  Pasi-phafi  (see  Index) ;  note,  too,  that  the 
Japanese  legend  recognises  her  existing  before  she  was  made  sun- 
goddess.  Heaven-shine  is  thus  her  name ;  the  Greek  being 
"  to- All-shine."  It  is  notable  that  in  the  Satapatha-BrdhtnancP'  it 
is  said  that  "in  the  beginning,  yonder  sun  was  verily  here  on 
earth." 

The  thesis  favoured  throughout  this  Inquiry  will  be  that  this 
spear  and  pillar  are  but  symbols  of  the  Earth-axis  and  its  prolongation  y 
that  is  of  the  Universe-axis  itself  as  it  seemed  {and  still  seems)  to  be 
when  the  Earth  was  quite  naturally  taken  to  be  the  centre  of  the 
cosmos  which  perpetually  revolved  round  that  axis.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  this  supreme,  sublime,  motion  of  the  megacosm 
was  patent  only  at  night,  and  that  its  majestic  progress  could  be 
noted  only  by  the  stars.  The  Axis  upon  which  the  stupendous 
machine  turned  itself  thus  became  an  all-important  origin  of 
endless  symbols  in,  as  is  here  suggested,  a  heavens- worship  of  the 
very  remotest  and  most  faded  antiquity,  a  worship  which  culminates 
in  the  adoration  of  the  Polar  deity's  self. 


Eventually  when  Ninigi,  the  first  divine  ruler  of  Japan,  had 
been  duly  appointed,  and  had  descended,  Heaven  and  Earth  drew 
apart,  and  actual  connection  between  them  ceased.^  "The 
separation  of  Heavens  and  Earth"  is  the  Japanese  phrase 
which  answers  to  our  "beginning  of  the  world."*  The  Chinesy 
preface  to  the  Kozhiki  makes  an  exposition  of  this  cosmical 
philosophy  as  follows  :  **  I  Yasumaro*  say :  Now  when  Chaos 
had  begun  to  condense,  but  force  and  form  were  not  yet  manifest, 
and  there  was  naught  named,  naught  done ;  who  could  know  its 
shape?  Nevertheless  Heavens  and  Earth  first  parted,  and  the 
Three  Kami^  performed  the  commencement  of  creation.  The 
Passive  and  Active  essences  then  developed,  and  the  Two  Spirits 
became   the  ancestors   of  all   things."      The   passive   and  active 

*  Trans.  As.  Soc.  Jap.,  vii,  419.  '  Eggeling's,  ii,  309.  '  Pure  Shintd^  51. 

*  Mr.  Chamberlain's  Kojiki^  pp.  xxi,  4,  15. 

*  Futo  no  Yasumaro,  a  pare  Japanese  imbued  with  Chinese  culture,  and  editing  the 
Kozhikiy  here  writes.     His  death  is  recorded  on  30th  August  a.d.  723. 

*  This  triad  is  the  Lord  of  the  awful  Mid-heavens  Ame  no  Minaka-Nushi,  the  Lofty- 
Dread-Producer  Taka  Mi-Musubi,  and  the  Divine- Producer  Kami-Musubi.  "These 
three  Kami  weie  all  alone-born  Kami,  and  hid  their  beings." 


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3^  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 


powers  are  here  the  Chinese  Yin  and  Yang  ;   and  the  two  Spirits 
with  whom  Yasumaro  identified  them  were  Izanami  and  Izanagi. 

In  a  New  Zealand  myth,  Rangi  and  Papa,  Heavens  and  Earth 
the  universal  parents,  were  once  closely  joined  (see  Index)  but 
were  at  length  separated  by  one  of  their  children,  the  god  of 
forests^ ;  a  reminder  of  Goethe's  saying :  Order  has  been  taken 
that  the  trees  shall  not  grow  through  the  sky. 

[It  is  odd  that  in  archaic  Japanese  the  modem  Aa/ui  (mother)  is  supposed 
to  have  been //?/«,  which  word  is  remarkable,  says  Mr.  B.  H.  Chamberlain  ; 
"  for  most  languages  possessing  it  or  a  similar  one,  use  it  not  to  denote  mother 
but  father."*  Ukko  and  Akka  are  the  names  which  were  given  among  the 
Finns  to  father  heavens  and  mother  earth.*] 

The  idea  of  the  former  union  and  later  separation  of  heaven 
and  earth  is  also  to  be  found  in  the  Aitareya-brdhmana^ ;  and  it  is, 
of  course,  ever  present  in  Chinese  cosmical  philosophy.  Another 
form  or  off-shoot  of  the  myth  is  the  union  of  Kronos  with  Rhea, 
who  in  Phrygia  and  generally  in  Asia  Minor  was  the  goddess  of 
forests  and  mountains.* 

Photius  (citing  Eutychius  Proclus  of  Sicca)  said  the  Greek  epic 
cycle  began  with  the  fabled  unipn  of  heaven  and  earth.*  The 
conceit  is  still  too  the  common  property  of  the  poets  as  part  of 
the  ubiquitous  idea  of  a  Fall : 

In  the  Morning  of  the  World, 

when  Earth  w^  nigher  Heaven  than  now. — (Pippa  Passes.) 

We  still  uphold  in  our  "  Mother-Earth  "  half  the  idea  which  is 
completed  by  the  Sanslcrit  dy^ws-Pit^,  the  Greek  Zeus-Pat6r  and  the 
Latin  Ju-Piter= Father-Sky  (or  Heavens).  The  Finnish  Mother- 
Earth,  Maa-emae  or  Maa^n-emo  is  consiort  of  Ukka,^  as  Jordh  is  of 
Odin,  Papa  of  Rangi,  or  G^  of  Ouranos. 

[The  subject  of  the  Spear,  Lance,  pal,  curis,  Sipike,  pike,  and  sword,  runs 
through  the  whole  Inquiry  like  a  file  tbroqgh  its  leaves ;  and  the  Reader  is 
requested  to  refer  to  the  pages  treating  on  Ares  and  tlie  Curetes  ;  and  above  al 
to  the  Index,  to  which  patient  attention  cannot  too  oft^n  be  invited.] 


[The  chain  of  gold  festened  from  heaven,  by  which  Zeus  boasts  in  the  Iliad 
(viii)  that  he  could  hang  gods  and  earth  and  sea  to  a  pinnacle  of  Olympus,  may 
be  a  variant  of  the  Universe-axis  myth. 

*  Lang's  Custom  and  Mythy  48  ;  Tylor's  Prim,  Culture^  i,  29a 
'  Trans.  As.  Soc.  lapan,  xvi,  262. 

^  Castren  :  Finnische  Mythologies  pp.  32,  86. 

^  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts ^  v,  23.  *  Tiele  :  Kronos^  p   26. 

*  Bibl.  Didot :    Cycli  epici  reliquicty  p.  581. 
7  Crawford's  Kalevala  (1889),  p.  xx. 


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Myths.']  The  Spear  Pike  or  Pal.  39 

A  chain  or  thread  of  gold  was  part  of  the  head-gear  of  Great  Maine,  the 
mythic  ancestor  of  the  HyMany,  and  the  son  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  hostages,  who 
appears  in  so  many  Irish  pedigrees,  but  must  be  equated  with  the  equally 
mythic  Welsh  Neol.  Maine,  Mane  or  Mani,  again,  is  identical  with  the  Welsh 
Menyw  of  Arthur's  Court*] 

>  Prof.  Rhys*s  Hibbtrt  Lectures,  374,  375. 


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40 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


[Axis 


2. — The  God  Picus. 

PiICUS  the  father  of  Faunus  (=Pan?)  seems  to  be  a  Pike> 
Spear,  or  Axis  god.  He  was  the  son  of  Saturnus  (=Kro- 
nos).  Faunus  was  also  said  to  be  the  son  of  Mars,  which  equates 
Picus  the  pike-god  and  Mars  the  spear-god.  He  was  also  father 
of  Fauna  the  Bona  Dea,  (whose  true  name  was  taboo)  an  alias  of 
Cybele. 

Fauna  also  meant  g^ood,  and  thus  of  course,  being  connected  with  fauere 
to  be  propitious,  implied  good  fortune,  which  gives  me  a  desired  connection 
with  the  central  lucky  emblems.  Faunus  it  was  said  became  a  serpent  in  his 
relations  with  Fauna,*  which  gives  us  a  connection  with  the  Egyptian  Ari 
serpent. 

The  changing  of  Picus  into  a  picus-dirdy  a  pie,  is  a  muddling 
of  words,  favoured  by  the  archaic  conditions  which  have  brought 
peck  and  deak  from  the  same  root  Sis/fike.  It  is  odd  that  there  is  a 
similar  contact — not  to  call  it  confusion — in  the  case  of  apTrrj  (see 
later)  which  means  both  a  weapon  and  a  bird. 

Dr.  O.  Schrader  makes  the  picus  (OHG  specht)  into  the  woodpecker. 
Mr.  E.  R.  Wharton  says  OHG  speh  magpie  goes  rather  with  speci6  ;  but  he 
too  makes  picus  a  woodpecker. 

The  following  is  a  philological  table  of  the  matter  as  regards 
Picus : 


Latin . 


French 


Celtic. 


Picus 


English 


.     picea  . 

.     pic 

.     bee      . 

Irish     . 

.     pice     . 

It 

.     picidh . 

Gaelic 

.     pic       . 

Welsh 

.     picell   . 

>» 

•     pig      • 

» 

.     pigo     . 

Cornish 

.    piga    . 

Breton 

.     p(k      . 

.    pike     . 

.     peak    . 

.    /o  peck 

.    beak    . 

Mid-Er 

iglish    pic 

The  Pike-god. 

pinus  silvestris, 

peak. 

beak. 

pike,/^r^. 

pike,  long  spear. 

pike,  weapon. 

javelin. 

pike,  beak. 

to  pick,  peck,  prick. 

to  prick. 

a  pick. 

pointed  staff. 

variant  of  pike. 

variant  of  to  pick. 

variant  of  pike. 

spike. 


*  Preller  :   Rom.  Mythol. ,  pp.  340,  352  ;  and  Gerhard. 


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Afy/As.]  The  God  Puns.  41 

Pitchfork  or  pikforke  thus  compares  with  the  Trident  and  Bident  [It  is 
needless  here  to  run  down  spike,  spica  &c.,  which  are  ahnost  certainly  connected, 
as  there  was  a  moveable  prefix,  s.] 

Picus  was  king  of  the  Ab-origines,  that  is  he  was  a  First-Man. 
He  was  besought  by  all  the  nymphs  of  the  land  (an  incident  which 
needs  no  commentary)  but  gave  his  choice  to  the  sweet-voiced 
Canente  (singing),  clearly  a  heavens-harmony  goddess,  the 
daughter  of  lanus  and  Venilia  (ocean-nymph  of  the  Venus  class  ; 
also  consort  of  Neptune,  and  otherwise  called  Salacia).  When  the 
enchantress  Circe  changed  Picus  into  a  picus,  Canente  faded  away 
in  grief,  and  became  (what  she  always  was)  vox  et  praeterea 
nihil.  The  fact  that  she  and  Picus  take  their  places  among  the 
Indigetes,  whose  real  names  were  taboo,  "dii  quorum  nomina 
vulgari  non  licet "  {Festus)  proves  their  archaically  lofty  rank. 

Were  the  Indigetes  indicated  by  mudras,  by  a  sort  of  sacred  talking  on  the 
fingers  ?  Were  they  thus  worshipped  as  Hinddl  gods  are  at  this  day  ?  This 
would  make  mudras  of  the  indigitamenta.    The  verb  was  indtglto  and  indTgeto. 

Circe  struck  Picus  with  her  Wand  to  metamorphose  him,  in 
revenge  for  his  insensibility.  Here  we  have  two  figures  of  the 
Universe-Axis  in  actual  contact  Picus  was,  according  to  Virgil 
{^n.  vii,  189),  a  horsey  god,  a  horse-lover,  which  is  a  central 
centaural  note  of  a  heavens-deity. 

The  province  of  Picenum  took  its  name  from  Picus  (sabini  .  .  . 
in  vexillo  eorum  picus  consederit — Festus  ;  where  picus  must  be  A 
pike).  In  the  most  extended,  that  is  the  mythic,  sense,  Picenum 
was  the  northernmost  seat  of  the  Picentes  (that  is  to  say  the 
Ab-origines)  the  Sabines,  the  Pelasgi  and  the  Umbri,  who  were 
all  comprised  under  this  general  designation.^  With  Picus  must 
be  catalogued  the  brothers  Picumnus  and  Pilumnus,  the  companions 
of  Mars  (with  whom  we  have  above  equated  Picus).  According  to 
Varro  and  Nonius  and  every  one  else  they  were  conjugal  gods, 
beds  being  set-up  for  them  in  the  temples  ;  and  they  were  sons  of 
Jupiter.  When  a  child  was  born  it  was  stood  on  the  ground  with 
a  recommendation  to  these  Axis-gods  (j/^/uebatur  in  terra,  ut 
auspicaretur  rectus  esse —  Varro).  Picumnus  was  an  Etruscan  god. 
His  partner  Pilumnus  invented  the  grinding  or  pounding  of  corn, 
whence  he  is  seen  to  be  a  pestle-god  (and  as  such  has  his  double  in 
Japan*),  and  was  thus  the  patron-saint  of  millers,  and  said   by 

*  Freund  und  Theil. 

*  The  Eastern  pestle  for  pounding  rice  b  about  five  feet  long,  and  is  of  wood  tipped 
wilh  iron.     It  is  found  in  every  house,  and  is  connected  with  many  superstitions  and 


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42  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  \Axis 

insufficient  mythologists  to  be  an  actual  personification  of  the 
pilum,  while  Picumnus  was  made  a  personification  of  the  picus- 
bird,  the  pie,  quod  est  absurdum.  Pil-umnus  deserves  contrasting 
with  Col-umnus.  The  pilum  of  course  was  both  a  javelin  and  a 
pestle,  whence  confusion  in  sacred  words  ;  Pilun^noe  poploe  in  the 
hymns  of  the  Salii  {Festtis)  is  a  good  instance  of  this; 
and  Mount  Pilatus  and  the  superstitions  connected  with  it  must 
be  put  in  the  same  category. 

Piliat-chuchi  seems  to  be  a  supreme  heavens-god  of  the  Kamschatkans,  and 
Picollus  an  ancient  Prussian  divinity. 

I  place  here  on  record,  without  satisfying  myself  on  the  subject,  the 
picataphorus  or  Eighth  house  of  the  astrologer's  heavens.  It  is  also  the 
"upper  gate,"  the  "idle  place,"  and  the  "house  of  death  " ;  terms  which  apply  to 
the  northern  heavens-omphalos.  Predictions  touching  deaths  and  inheritances 
are  made  from  it  {Noel).  To  this  is  appended  the  Picati  whose  feet  are 
sphinx-formed  (?) :  Picati  appellantur  quidam  quorum  pedes  formati  sunt  in 
speciem  Sphingum  :  quod  eas  Pori  ficas  vocant  {Festus),  This  "  Dori "  gives 
us  a  connection  with  the  d<(pv-spear  of  Kronos  (see  later). 

As  to  the  bird  pica  and  picus  it  must  however  be  borne  in 
mind  that  it  was  augural,  and  was  also  a  sort  of  fabulous  griffin 
or  gryphon,  which  was  called  ^pv-^  (an  eagle-winged  lion,  which 
is  one  of  the  four  heavens-beasts,  see  Index).  Pici  divitiis  qui 
aureos  montes  (that  is  the  heavens)  colunt^ 

ceremonies.     (Hardy :   Manual  of  Buddhism ^    154.)     The  Japanese  name  for  it 
surikogL 

'  Nonius,  152,  7. 


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Myths]  Divine  Names  in  Pal-.  43 


3. — Divine  Names  in  Pal-. 

W  ^ALLAS,  I  think,  must  be  explained  alongside  ofirdWeiv 

A""^to   brandish   (a  spear),    to   hurl,   wield,   drive,  cast   lots, 

JL  vibrate,  palpitate.     The    Pal-   must  be  that  preserved  to  us 

in  the  French  pal  a  stake  or  pole,  and  our  own  word  pale :  Latin 

palus  and  pilus.     [See  Pallas  again,  lower  down.] 

Palace,  It  is  strange,  in  view  of  the  myths  here  set  out  as  to 
the  spear  or  pal  forming  the  tent-pal  or  pole,  the  palace-pillar,  that 
a  derivation  of  pal-ace  from  pal  is  impregnable.  The  P^x/atium, 
XldXariov,  IlaXXai/Tiov,  was  said  to  be  the  first  hill  built-on  in 
Rome,^  and  ought  to  be  connected  with  palatum  the  vault  of  the 
heavens,  upheld  by  the  pal,  which  must  be  considered  as  the  real 
sigfnificance  of  the  word.  PaldXo  (or  Palanto  or  Palanta  or  Palatia) 
daughter  of  Hyperboreus  (that  is,  of  the  Extreme-North  where 
the  axis-pal  is),  and  consort  of  Latinus,  lived  there ;  and  there  was 
Pallas  buried  (Festus),  which  is  clearly  a  doublet  of  the  same  legend ; 
which  was  also  perpetuated  in  tjie  worship  of  the  tutelary  goddess 
of  the  hill,  PaldX\x2i,  with  the  palatual  or  palatuar  sacrifices.  Her 
priest  had  the  same  title  as  her  sacrifices.  It  is  all  old,  old  as  the 
hills. 

If  pal  alone  will  not  do  for  pal-atium  and  pal-atinus  ;  pal  +  latium  and 
pal  +  latinus  would  ;  if  we  could  only  get  rid  of  the  important  difficulty  of  the 
single/  and  the  double  //,  with  which  Mr.  Herbert  D.  Darbishire  here  blocks  my 
unorthodox  way.  All  I  can  urge  in  extenuation  is  that  we  are  here  engaged 
upon  extremely  ancient  compound  proper  names  ;  which,  as  Mr.  E.  R.  Wharton 
states,'  "all  writers  of  etymological  dictionaries  have  agreed  to  exclude"; 
on  ne  sait  pas  trop  pourquoi.  (See  also  words  in  lat-,  which  have  to  be  treated 
separately). 

On  to  the  Pal-Latinus  hill  were  the  divine  twins  Romulus  and 
Remus  (who  are  thus  doublets  of  the  Pafici  twins)  brought  by 
Faustulus.  Thence  Romulus  saw  the  Twelve  Vultures;  that  is, 
saw  the  zodiacal  signs  from  the  centre  of  the  heavens.  (Remus 
seeing  only  six  vultures  from  the  .^r^ntine  Bird-hill  requires  pur- 
suit). An  old  theory,  revived  by  Prof.  F.  M.  Miiller,*  brought 
palatinus  from  the  goddess  Pales  ;  but  that  is  a  mere  half-way-house, 
a  stage  on  the  journey,  just  like  Palato  or  Pallas.  There  was  a 
Palatina   laurus  before  the  palace  of  the  Caesars  (Ovid,  Fast,  iv, 

*  Varro,  L,L,  v,  8,  53.  '  Etyina  Laiina  (1890)  p.  vi.         '  Lects,  on  Lang.y  ii,  276. 


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44  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 

593),  which  would  have  represented  the  universe- laurel-tree  (see 
"  AgLauros  ").  An  inscription  found  in  Provence  called  Cybel6  the 
great  Palatina  of  Ida.  The  Salii  were  called  palatini,  and  this  was 
not  from  the  hill ;  both  had  their  names  from  the  same  source,  and 
the  Salii  carried  spears,  ot  pals. 

UdKaifuov  son  of  Athamas  and  Ino  (or  of  Hephaistos  or  of 
H^rakl^s)  was  an  argonaut,  and  was  at  first  called  Melikert^s,  a 
Bee-god.  His  mother  was  precipitated  with  him  into  the  Cosmic 
Ocean,  which  gives  us  his  and  her  Fall.  Children  were  sacrificed 
to  him  in  Tenedos.  At  Corinth  Pausanias  recorded  an  under- 
ground chapel  of  his,  to  which  the  descent  was  by  a  secret  stair. 
He  hid  there  (being  thus  like  many  Axis-gods  within  the  Earth), 
and  punished  perjur>'  instanter,  which  makes  a  central  Truth-god 
of  him.  The  Etruscan  Portunns  (wrongly  Portumnus)  clearly  a 
heavens-gate  god,  was  called  Palaemon  also  in  Rome.  The  name 
divides  either  as  iraX-aifuov  or  iraXai-fKov ;  the  latter  however  is 
the  easier  of  the  two,  and  would  mean  the  Old-One.  He  is  also 
called  Palaim6nios  {Apolloniusy 

Fat'Sieno  was  a  Danald  (Hyginus^  Fa6.  170). 

PaiaMtdQS  is  a  doublet  of  Kadmos,  in  so  far  as  the  invention  of 
either  four  or  six  letters  goes.  This  he  did  observing  the  flight  of 
cranes,  which  is  strangely  like  the  Chinese  Fuh-hi  discovering  the 
six  classes  of  trigrams  or  written  characters  on  the  back  of  a 
heavenly  dragon -horse  (see  Index). 

Francois  Lenormant,  upon  a  careful  analysis  of  all  the  legends,  pronounced 
for  the  four  letters  of  PalaM6dfis  being,  upon  the  balance  of  evidence  :  S,%X 
and  *.  Note  that  the  first  is  the  character  for  the  heavens-ocean  or  river  in 
both  Chinese  and  Egyptian  ;  that  the  last  is  the  trident  or  fleur-de-lis ;  that 
X  is  the  cardinal  cross  slewed  round  45°  ;  and  that  *  is  the  universe  pierced 
by  its  axis. 

There  was  a  saying  about  losing  the  birds  of  PalaM^d^s,  which 
Martial  (xiii,  75)  put  into  a  cryptic  verse  : 

Turbabis  versus  nee  litera  tota  volabit, 
unam  perdideris  si  Palamedis  avem. 
Besides,,  he  invented  numbers,  weights  and  measures,  and  the  regu- 
lation of  time.  He  thus  still  more  resembles  the  Chinese  mythic 
ruler  whom  I  have  suggested  to  be  a  central  primaeval  god,  and 
the  same  suggestion  is  also  now  made  as  to  Palamedes,  whose 
poems  were  even  said  by  Suidas  to  have  been  suppressed  by 
Homer.  He  was  a  descendant  of  Bel,  and  it  is  all  in  the  part 
that  a  treasure  should  be  found  in  his  tent,  and  that  he  should 


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Myths^  Divine  Names  in  Pal-,  45 

have  his  fall,  his  doom  of  the  gods,  by  being  precipitated  into  the 
Cosmic  Ocean.  The  name  is  probably  TraXat-MiyS?;?,  the  Old- 
Central-God.     (See  Me-Deus). 

Palai(o)polis  in  the  island  of  Andros  had  a  magic  fountain  whose  water 
became  wine  for  seven  days  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  in  January.  It  was 
a  temple-miracle  this  ;  and  the  wine  re-became  water  if  taken  out  of  the  sacred 
precincts.  So  was  the  suspicious  inspector  then  dished  by  the  wily.  Palai 
here  is  clearly  "  old.**  Paleia  was  also  a  name  of  the  town  Av/xi;  or  Dymae,  a 
very  archaic  word,  which  seems  to  have  survived  otherwise  only  in  compounds 
of  dvo),  dO/ii,  to  go  under,  sink,  set  (the  sun). 

Palaistinos  (or  -us  ?)  precipitated  himself  into  the  waters  (river  Canosus  or 
Palsestinus  or  Strymon). 

The  Palici  form  one  of  the  endless  celestial  pairs  of  twins. 
Sons  of  Jupiter  and  Thalia  or  iEtna,  their  mother,  pregnant  of 
them,  was  at  her  own  prayer  swallowed-up  by  the  Earth,  whence 
the  twins  came  forth  at  the  proper  time.  It  is  a  clear  dual-axis- 
pillar  myth.  They  were  also  gods  of  the  breakless  oath.  Macro- 
bius  (^Sat.  V,  19)  and  Servius  gave  this  account  from  a  Sicilian  poet; 
and  the  derivation  of  the  name  from  irdXiv-Ueo  is  amusing.  Hesy- 
chius  called  them  sons  of  Adramus  or  Adranus  (said  to  be  an 
indigenous  Sicilian  god)  ;  but  iEschylus  made  them  sons  of  Zeus. 
The  boiling  lake  of  sulphurous  water,  near  which  their  temple  was 
placed,  was  always  full  but  never  overflowed,  like  the  fountain  of 
the  Peri  Banu.  The  temple  was  also  a  sanctuary  for  maltreated 
slaves,  which  reminds  of  Orestes  taking  refuge  at  the  Omphalos. 
There  were  oracles  also  given,  and  human  sacrifices  made — always 
a  note  of  supreme  central  gods.  The  Palici  seem  to  be  a  doublet 
of  Romulus  and  Remus. 

Palilicium  sidus.  This  star  was  said  to  be  the  constellation  of  the  Hyades, 
because  clearly  seen  on  the  feast  of  the  Palilia  (21  April).  Could  any  reason 
well  be  more  insufficient  (Pliny  xviii,  26,  66,  §  247). 

Palilia  or  Parilia,  the  feast  of  the  foundation  of  Rome,  at  the 
beginning  of  Spring  (that  is,  for  both  reasons,  the  creation  of  the 
world).  Perfumes  mixed  with  horse-blood  (which  would  give  a 
central  horse-god  connection),  and  ashes  from  a  whole-burnt  un- 
born calf  obtained  Ceesar-ways,  and  from  burnt  beanstalks,  were 
used  for  purification  at  this  spring-feast. 

[The  ashes  still  survive  in  the  pagan  ritual  of  Ash- Wednesday,  for  which 
the  ashes  should  be  obtained  from  the  palms  of  the  previous  palm-Sunday. 
The  Jews  purified  with  ashes  of  the  burnt  red-Cow  {Numbers^  xix).     The  Parsis 
still  use  ashes  fi-om  the  Bahrim  fire  mixed  with  bull's  urine  (gomez).] 
The   worshippers   also   jumped   through  the  flamma   Palilis — no 


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4^  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

doubt  of  the  fire  from  which  these  ashes  were  obtained  ;  and  straw 
and  hay  were  also  burnt  for  the  purpose  of  this  flame  (Ovid,  Fast. 
iv,  798).  The  shepherd's  crook,  the  pedum,  which  is  just  the  same 
as  the  augur's  lituus  (see  Index),  must  have  helped  to  make  the 
paiilidL  a  shepherd's  feast  also. 

pa/ea,  straw.  I  think  pal  was  a  reed  before  palea  was  a  straw, 
and  that  tAat  is  the  true  explanation  of  the  worldwide  ritualistic 
use  of  straw,  which  has  been  an  object  of  my  searches  for  many 
years.  Instances  are  the  ancient  feudal  oath  by  a  straw  (France)  ; 
the  yule  (/>.,  wheel)  straw  (Scotland  and  N.  of  Ireland) ;  the  rice- 
straw  roping  of  sacred  trees,  shrines  and  private  houses  (japan) 
and  so  forth.  The  great  Reed  (as  in  Japan  and  elsewhere,  see 
Index)  represented  the  Spear  (for  which  it  no  doubt  served  in 
archaic  times)  that  is  the  axis-pal.  And  the  straw  and  rush  came 
later  to  replace  or  suffice  in  ritual  for  the  reed,  especially  in  reedless 
countries.  Japan  is  the  Ashi^hara  no  naka  tsu  Kuni,  the  mid-I^nd 
of  the  Reed-expanse,  that  is  the  Earth  on  the  axis  of  the  Universe. 

iraXiovpo^  the  thom^tree,  paliurus,  Christ's-thorn.  I  was  near 
omitting  this  word,  which  must  be  analysed,  it  is  suggested,  into 
TToK  and  oipo<;  the  extremity. 

UaXivovpo^.  It  is  strange  that  this  sky-pilot  also  fell  into  the 
Ocean,  like  so  many  other  gods  in  Pal-.  Martial's  shocking  pun 
(iii,  78)  ought  to  be  a  warning  to  audacious  etymologists : 
Minxisti  currente  semel,  Paulline,  carina  : 
meiere  vis  iterum,  jam  Palinurus  ens. 
Natheless  will  I  suggest  that  oipo<;  is  the  heavens-mountain,  and 
that  irdKiv,  *'  again,"  might  have  actually  taken  its  fullest  signifi- 
cance from  repetitions  of  the  turning  of  the  Universe  round  its  pa/. 
And  I  here  especially  draw  attention  to  the  connection  between 
ovpo^,  groove  or  socket  (compare  what  is  said  about  the  axis- 
socket  elsewhere)  ;  oipo^,  mountain  ;  otipo^,  term,  boundary ;  ovpi., 
tail ;  oSpoi/,  space,  boundary  ;  Zeus  Oipco^^ ;  Ovpla^  (Heb.  UriYah 
=fire  of  Yah,  a  companion  name  to  UriEl ;  ur  =  fire,  light.  Recol- 
lect urim  an(3  thummim  =  lights  and  truths)  ;  oipo^,  Ovpev^  a 
watcher ;  Ovpavo^^  the  heavens,  the  heavens-god.  The  cape  of 
Palinurus  would  thus  be  the  North  pole. 

*  The  French  ours  (Latiji  ursus,  Proven9al  ors)  is  now,  it  wojild  seem,  identified  with 
ipKTOs ;   Sanskrit  rkshas,  Irish  .art,  Welsh  arth. 

•  Mr.  E.  R.  Wharton  (in  Eiyma  Graca.  and  Laiina)  puts  t<^ether  Sanskrit  var  sea, 
and  varis  water,  Zend  vairis.  Old  Norse  ver,  Anglosaxon  var  sea,  Latin  urloa,  with  oZpov 
water,  ovpav6s  (rainy)  sky,  and  ovpotnj  pot.     The  now  favoured  explanation  of  ovpaif6s 


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Myths.']  Divine  Names  in  Pal-.  47 

PdlioHy  it  is  well  to  remember,  was  an  alias  of  Mount  P^lion. 

iraXtd,  the  wedding  morrow-mom.  The  sancta  simplicitas  of  the  old  derivation 
of  this  "  from  itahv  Uvtu,  because  they  then  returned  to  the  feast,"  feit  rire 
comme  ung  tas  de  mousches  au  soleiL  It  must  be  connected  with  fraX-Xd{,  a 
youth  just  fit  to  use  his  pal ;  irdX-Xa,  fmX-Xaic^,  fraX-Xoyfuz,  and  so  forth.  And 
here  there  must  be  a  connection  with  <f>ak'\6s.  The  maiden  idea  is  here 
secondary ;  and  one  is  sorry  to  think  that  K.  O.  Muller  seems  quite  put  out 
of  court  with  his  ^^naKXds  simply  meaning  virgin^  just  as  Persephond 
was  called  the  Eleusinian  it6pa^  virgin^^^  But  there  are  no  two  ways  about  it ; 
vdXXf  ly  is  to  wheel,  to  wield,  a  spear ;  and  there  is  perhaps  some  small  modicum 
of  compensating  comfort  in  thinking  of  the  giant  that  made  Rosalind  as  a 
Pallas. 

Apollonios  of  Rhodes  names  tvfkfitkUjg  ^akripos  as  one'of  the  argonauts.' 
This  is  rendered  "  Phal6ros  of  the  stout  ashen  spear,"  or  it  may  be  "  expert  with 
the  ashen  spear."  We  cannot  (according  to  the  system  followed  in  this 
Inquiry)  consider  his  name  without  all  the  other  divine  words  in  ^aX-  for 
which  there  is  now  neither  time  nor  space  ;  de  sera  pour  une  autre  fois.  This 
brings  us  to 

Pa/Ia  an  amazon  killed  by  H6rakl6s  J  and  the  superlatively  famous 

palladium.  The  mdXKAhiov  fell  from  heaven  in  the  reign  of  *f X09 
(that  is  ll  or  fel=Kronos)  the  son  of  Tpciv  (==T/5€t9,  three?)  the 
namer  of  Tpota^  which  would  thus  be  a  Trinidad.  Tpw-Z\o^  unites 
the  two  god-names,  and  in  that  resembles  EH- Yah*  The  palladion 
was  an  upright  image  of  Pallas  Ath^n^  Uplifting  a  pal  or  pike  in 
the  right  hand.  Apollodorus  said  it  was  an  automaton,  like  the 
more  modern  winking  pictures.  By  another  legend  it  was  given 
to  Dard-anos,  an  obvious  dart  or  spear-god,  by  his  mother  'HXi/er/^a, 
daughter  of  Atlas,  and  one  of  The  Seven.  By  yfet  other  accounts 
Asios  (a  surname  of  Zeus)  gave  it  to  Dardanos  or  to  Tr6s. 

MnesLS  (Aineias),  it  must  be  remembered,  was  a  Dardanian  prince ; 
Anchis^s  having  been  the  King  of'tl^e  Dardanians.  *AyxiaTjs  and  Ancus 
(Martins)  may  be  connected.  JEnesLS  fought  with  the  Dardanians  at  the  war- 
in-heaven  of  the  siege  of  Troy,  and  was  clearly  the  Achilles  of  the  Trojan 
side.  , 

Dardanos  made  a  copy  of  the  Zeus-given  palladium,  **and  the 
same  with  intent  to  deceive,"  like  the  counterfeit  bucklers  of  the 
Salii ;  but  this  doubling  of  the  palladium  must  contain  a  dual  pillar 
conception.     The  Romans  were  also  said  to  have  made  several 

as  rainy,  because  o(ovp4»  to  sprinkle,  does  not  seem  to  fill  the  mind.  Might  it  not  be 
urged  that  the  expounding  of  ovpor  (urina)  as  tail-water  is  possible  and  useful  ?  Consider 
the  Indian  and  Iranian  still  over>mastering  superstitions  as  to  the  gomes  of  the  celestial 
cow,  and  the  fact  that  the  heavens-river  comes  from  the  supreme,  the  terminal,  quarter  oi 
the  heavens  on  which  we  are  engaged. 

*  Afythoi,  cb.  xii.  *  Argon,  i,  96.       ^ 


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48  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

counterfeits  of  the  palladium  which  iEneas  brought  from  Troy,  the 
original  being  hid  in  a  place  unknown  ("  except  to  the  priests  "  is 
another  touch  of  the  hoax) ;  and  this  had  its  rise  in  the  elusive 
nature  of  the  Axis,  often  referred  to  in  this  Inquiry.  Many  towns 
contested  the  possession  of  the  palladium,  just  as  there  were  ever- 
so-many  navels.  The  allegory  by  which  the  palladium  was  made  of 
the  bones  (?  the  spine)  of  Pelops  is  significant,  for  the  white  shoulder 
of  Pelops  was  the  white  heavens ;  the  rapt  of  the  palladium  by 
Dio-M^d^s,  clearly  a  central  god-name,  has  also  genuine  meaning. 

"  The  Palladion  (called  Diopet6s,  that  is  heaven-dropped)  which  Diom^d^s 
and  Odusseus  (Ulysses)  carried  off  from  Troy  to  D^mophoon  was  made  of  the 
bones  of  Pelops,  as  Olympian  Zeus  of  the  bones  of  the  Indian  wild  beast."* 
This  last  may  point  to  images  of  bone  or  ivory. 

Palladia  arx^  the  citadel  protected  by  Pallas  (Propertius,  iii,  7,  42),  is 
primarily  the  arx  (see  Index)  of  the  highest  heavens,  which  is  thus  again 
identified  with  the  celestial  counterpart  of  terrestrial  Troy.  Palladia  Alba  is 
thus  also  the  white  (see  Index)  heavens.  Palladia  pinus,  too,  is  not  Argo  navis, 
as  is  falsely  said,  but  its  mast  (Val.  Flacc  i,  475)  or  its  keel.  Note  that 
palladia  lotos  (Martial  viii,  51)  was  a  lotus-flute.  Invita  Pallade,  "in  spite  of 
Pallas,"  was  a  profane  oath  the  reverse  of  the  pious  "  Not  without  Theseus." 

Pallas  (again).  Weigh  well  the  fact  that  no  other  line  of  expla- 
nation than  that  I  am  now  hammering-at  will  expound  for  us  the 
number  Seven  being  called  pallas.  The  endeavour  to  explain  it  as 
the  virgin  number,  quia  nullum  ex  se  parit  numerum  duplicatus, 
qui  intra  denarium  coarctetur,  (Macrobius,  Somn,  Scip,  1,  6 ;  Martius 
Capella,  vii,  241)  seems  childish.  The  reason  is,  it  is  suggested, 
because  the  Sevens  of  the  two  Bears  (especially  of  Ursa  Major, 
of  course)  are  at  the  top  of  the  pal  which  is  the  Universe-axis. 
This  alone  also  fully  explains  the  name  and  import  of  the  giant. 

PallaSy  son  by  Eurubia  of  the  Titan  Krios  (Crius)  (who  also 
wedded  Styx  daughter  of  Okeanos — a  myth  which  may  refer  to 
the  axis  passing  down  through  the  infernal  waters) ;  or  (Apollo- 
doros*  gave  the  choice)  otherwise  Pallas  was  one  of  the  fifty  sons 
of  Luka6n.  Or  again,  he  was  one  of  the  four  sons  of  Pan  Dion. 
And  here  **  I  do  now  let  loose  my  opinion,  hold  it  no  longer :"  this 
giant's  name  comes  from  waX  a  pal  (in  fact)  and  Xa?  a  stone  or 
stone-pillar. 

Coupling  such  words  as  pal  +  XSj  here,  and  pal  +  Lat-inus  before,  is  perhaps 
committing  the  philological  crime  of  compounding  roots.  But  in  arrest  of 
judgment  it  might  be  pleaded  that  the  premises  of  the  present  arguments  are 

*  Clem.  Alex.  Exhorin,  to  the  Hellenes  (citing  the  Cycle  (part  5)  of  Dionysius). 
'  Apoll.  BibL^  i,  2,  2;  iii,  8,  I ;  iii,  15,  5. 


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MythsJ]  Divine  Names  in  Pal-.  49 

taken  from  a  period  of  the  world's  pre-history  much  older  than  that  which  any 
philological  canons  propose  to  embrace.  Reference  is  requested  to  what  is  said 
later  on  as  to  Pol  Lux  being  perhaps  also  a  compound  ;  and  the  existence  of 
the  divine  name  DoruLas  (which  see)  as  a  straight  verbal  parallel  to  PalLas, 
seems  sufficiently  striking. 

The  50  sons  of  Pallas  who  warred  with  Theseus  must  take 
their  place,  as  chronologicals,  with  all  the  other  "  fifties  "  of  Greek 
Mythology  (see  Index).  The  slaying  and  flaying  of  Pallas^  the 
Titan  by  Pallas  the  goddess,  who  donned  his  skin,  would  connect 
itself  perhaps  with  the  Indian  lingam  incidents  (see  Meru) ;  and 
the  male  and  female  deities  called  Pallas  would  be  originally  a 
dual  axis-god.  Cicero  gives  a  legend  which  is  another  form  of 
this ;  making  Minerva  the  daughter  of  Pallas,  whom  she  kills  on 
his  offering  her  sexual  violence.  Pallinios  was  (the  same  or 
another  ?)  an  Attic  giant,  killed  by  Ath^n6.  Apollodoros*  gave  a 
legend  which  clearly  makes  Ath^n^  and  Pallas  two  goddesses ; 
Pallas  being  daughter  of  Trit6n  and  killed  by  Ath^n^,  who  then 
makes  a  counterfeit  image  of  her,  which  image,  flung  down  to  the 
Iliadan  land,  (et?  •n^i'  'iXtciSa  xc&pai/ — tXv9~mud)  was  the  Palla- 
dion  which  Ilos  there  enshrined.  All  the  gods  called  Pallas  are, 
it  is  suggested,  clearly  due  to  one  monster  type ;  one  legend  makes 
Pallas  the  son  of  Lycaon,  another,  the  son  of  Pan-Dion  ;  another, 
the  son  of  H^rakl^s  the  axis-god  and  Lvva  daughter  of  Euandros. 
Virgil  makes  Pallas  son  of  Evander  or  Evandrus,  whom  some 
mythologists  have  equated  with  Saturn  or  Kronos.  (Recollect 
that  Evan  or  Yav6v  was  a  surname  of  Bacchus).  Nor  must  we 
forget  that  Zeus  was  called  Pallantios. 

Pallini  in  Ovid  is  a  northern  land  wherein  is  a  marsh  called 
TVrton,  in  which  bathing  nine  times  gives  feathers  and  "  the  right 
to  fly."  A  vagary  upon  the  Trinity-House  of  the  Northern  Cosmic 
Ocean,  and  souls  becoming  birds  in  the  same  quarter.  The  idea 
of  the  "  marsh  "  may  come  from  a  confusion  of  palus  pali  a  stake, 
the  axis,  with  pSlus  pSludis  a  marsh  or  pond  ;  but  pSlus  also  was 
a  reed  or  rush  (see  p.  46),  and  that  may  even  have  been  the  earlier 
signification.  (Recollect  the  Japanese  ashihara,  reed-expanse). 
The  mythic  palus  Maeotis  (Mat&T^?)  may  thus  meet  with  its 
elucidation.  Apollodoros*  said  that,  according  to  some,  the 
Gigantes,  sons  of  Ouranos  and  G^,  dwelt  in  Pall^n6. 

Pallor.    This  goddess  was  a  companion  of  Mars  ;  a  dog  and  a 

>  Apoll.  Bibl.y  i,  6,  2.  •  Bibl,  iii,  12,  3.  '  Bibl^  i,  6,  I. 

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50  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

sheep  were  her  sacrifice,  and  she  had  her  pallorian  priests,  the 
Salii.  Pallor  is  always  said  to  be  pallor  personified ;  but  that 
pallor  is  not  the  paleness  of  the  face ;  that  is  not  how  gods  are 
made.  In  view  of  all  that  is  here  to  be  urged  as  to  white  being  an 
adjectival  tern^  for  the  heavens,  I  shall  suggest  that  it  was  from 
the  whiteness  of  the  celestial  displays  that  Pallor  took  her  first 
colour-signification,  Plautus  has  a  pun  (^Men.  iv,  2,  46)  which 
serves  slightly  here :  palla  pajlorem  incutit ;  where  palla  is  actually 
a  cloak,  but  may  have  sub-intended  a  weapon.  Pallor  was  used  of 
the  shades  of  Hades,  and  pallor  amantium  was  especially  common  ; 
so  that  the  paleness  of  fright  was  not  a  primary  meaning  of  pallor, 
and  the  companioning  of  Pallor  with  Mars  would  have  been  not 
because  she  turned  the  runaway  pale,  but  because,  like  the  male 
and  female  Greek  Pallas,  they  were  both  spear  deities ;  the 
connection  with  the  Salii  seepia  conclusive.  She  was  an  ancient 
goddess  in  PaU.  Palled  meant  am  pale  (in  the  face)  from  any 
cause — age,  sickness,  auperexcitement,  or  passion. 

Palomantiay  the  divination  which  resembled  rhabdomancy,  used 
to  be  explained  in  the  dictionaries  as  coming  from  iriXK^w  to  shake. 
Of  course  the  source  of  both,  and  of  ^4X09  a  lot,  is  pal  a  rod  or 
spear. 

Makaiy  the  adverb  which  means  long  ago,  of  yore,  erst,  aforetime,  may 
perhaps  have  had  a  connection  with  the  Old  One  whose  position  in  so  many 
mythologies  is  at  the  end  of  the  universe-pal ;  iraXaio/x^roopssancient  Mother  ; 
and  see  Palaimon  and  FalaM^d^s  above.  The  affectionate  expression  "  old 
pal "  which  superior  persons  are  now  pleased  to  dub  as  slang,  and  which  is  said 
to  be  Rommany,"  might  claim  descent  from  the  same  great  origin. 

PalcBstra,  iraXaurrpa,  I  believe  the  connection  between  pal 
a  pole,  and  ird\q  wrestling,  might  be  attempted  by  means  of  the 
locality  HaKaiarpa  where,  in  the  time  of  Pausanias,  tradition  still 
had  it  that  the  struggle  between  Theseus,  the  god,  and  Kerku6n 
took  place.  Kerkudn  obviously,  like  Korkura  (Corcyra),  belongs 
to  K€p/ch  a  spindle.  He  was  a  central  revolving  universe-god,  and 
his  wrestling  with  Theseus  would  have  taken  place  at  the  pal  or 
axis.  Plato  made  Kerkudn  one  of  the  inventors  of  wrestling. 
The  bending  down  of  the  tops  of  the  trees  which  is  attributed  to 
him,  would  again  make  him  central,  as  referring  to  the  overarching 

*  />dl  a  plank.  Grellman*s  Jlist  des  Bohimiens  (French  ed.).  Paris  i8io,  p.  296. 
pala  lord  prince  ;  palam  my  lord  ;  paU  straw ;  pali  lady  princess  ;  palim  madam ;  paiifo 
magnificent ;  polo  post  prop.  (Vaillant*s  Langue  Rommane^  Paris  1861,  p.  120).  But 
there  is  nothing  analogous  in  Paspati  ( Tchinghianis  de  t empire  Ottoman^  Constantinople, 
1870,  p.  401)  who  only  gives /«// behind. 


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Myths.']  Divine  Names  in  Pal-.  5' 

and  pendulous  heavens-branches  of  the  Universe-tree.  Add  that 
he  was  son  of  AgaM^d^s,  the  central  Impeller-God,  and  there  is 
but  little  question  left.  If  Sinis,  who  was  also  killed  by  Theseus, 
and  to  whom  is  credited  the  same  tree-trick,  be  indeed  as  is  thought 
the  same  as  Kerku6n,  we  should  by  joining  the  two  names  have 
the  sinister  idea  of  tuming^  to  the  left,  or  endeavouring  to  reverse 
the  motion  of  the  heavens  (which  claims  so  much  attention  in  this 
Inquiry).  Thfiseus,  the  heavens-god,  thus  fought  "  for  the  rigkt*^ 
for  the  Law  and  Order  of  the  Universe,  and  won.  Kerkios  the 
charioteer  of  Castor  and  Pollux  has  obviously  a  similar  etymo- 
logical signification,  from  his  driving  circularly  round  the  heavens. 
And  it  is  hoped  that  no  one's  feelings  will  be  over-shocked  by 
explaining  the  name  of  the  great  enchantress-goddess  Circe  TLLpicn 
in  the  same  way.  It  falls  almost  too  patly  into  my  theory  (later 
on)  about  turning  the  wheel  of  Fortune.  Her  skill,  so  supreme  as 
to  bring  down  the  stars  from  heaven,  is  then  prosaically  explained 
away  as  their  bringing  low,  as  they  set  when  she  has  turned  the 
heavens  round  to  that  extent  That  explains  her  connection  with 
Picus  the  axis-god,  and  her  wand.  The  remaining  a  year  with 
Circe  (as  Ulysses  did)  then  merely  refers  to  the  revolution  of  the 
annus  of  the  year.  This  subject  might  be  pursued  indefinitely,  but 
not  now. 

Etymologists  have  invented  no  root  that  will  afford  us  straight- 
away this  indubitably  radical  and  ubiquitous  word  pal,  a  stake. 
This  is  a  fact  which  may  well  give  us  pause.  They  however  say 
that  pale  is  a  doublet  of  pole  ;  and  bring  pole  from  a  "  root  kar^ 
later  kal,  to  go,  to  drive  "  ;^  a  derivation  as  to  which  it  may  be 
safe  to  suspend  final  judgment  until  further  orders,  as  r  and  /  can 
scarcely  be  permitted  to  interchange  in  philological  roots. 

*  Skeat's  Etym.  Diet,  (ist  ed.)i  p.  454- 


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52  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


4. — The  Rod  and  Rhabdomancy. 

FOR  some  future  occasion  must  be  reserved  the  wide-branching 
subject  of  the  divining-rod  and  rhabdomancy.  It  would 
seem,  however,  that  the  magic  rod  or  wand  must  be  connected 
with  the  symbolism  of  the  Universe-Axis.  Prof.  Robertson  Smith 
says  that  "  No  doubt  the  divining-rod,  in  which  a  spirit  or  life  is 
supposed  to  reside,  so  that  it  moves  and  gives  indications  apart 
from  the  will  of  the  man  who  holds  it,  is  a  superstition  cognate  to 
the  belief  in  sacred  trees."^  Philo-Sanconiathon  says  rods  as  well 
as  pillars  were  worshipped  at  an  annual  Phoenician  feast.*  If  the 
rod,  pole,  and  pillar  were  identical  emblems  of  the  Universe-Axis, 
it  would  account  for  the  Romans  worshipping  peeled  posts  as  gods,' 
and  would  throw  a  flood  of  light  on  Jacob's  peeling  white  strakes 
in  rods  of  fresh  storax,  almond,  and  plane  trees  {Gen,  xxx,  37). 
The  rod  of  Aaron  (mountain)  that  grew,  bloomed,  and  fruited, 
must  clearly  be  connected  with  the  marvellous  Tree,  the  Mountain, 
and  the  Axis. 

The  middle-age  writers  on  the  Occult*  put  the  divining-rod  in 
the  same  category  with  the  rod  of  Moses,  with  which  he  struck 
the  rock  and  brought  forth  water;  with  the  golden  sceptre  of 
Ahasuerus,  of  which  Esther  no  sooner  touched  the  tip  than  she 
obtained  all  her  desires ;  and  even  with  the  line  in  Psalm  xxiii : 
"thy  rod  and  staff,  they  comfort  me."  It  was  also  the  rod  or 
wand  of  Pallas  Ath6n^  with  which  she  metamorphosed  Odysseus  in 
the  13th  and  i6th— it  is  golden  in  the  i6th — books  of  the  Odyssey. 
In  Ezekiel  xxi,  21  the  king  of  Babylon  "stood  at  the  parting 
of  the  way,  at  the  head  of  the  two  ways  "  [at  the  fork  of  the  roads] 
"to  use  divination.  He  shook  the  arrows  to  and  fro."  Cicero 
{De  ^i,  44,  158)  in  writing  to  his  son  used  the  expression  of 
providing  for  one's  wants  as  if  by  the  divining-rod  :  quasi  Virguli 
diving,  ut  aiunt.  Varro  is  said  (Nonius  550,  12)  to  have  written  a 
satire  called  Virgula  Divina,  Tacitus  described  the  Germans*  as 
cutting  into  several  pieces  a  rod  (virga)  from  a  fruit-bearing  tree, 

^  ReUg,  ofSemiieSy  179.  •  Eusebius:  Prap,  Ev,  i,  10,  ii. 

•  Festus,  S.V.  delubrum,  *•  de  Vallemont*s  Physique  occulte,  1696,  p.  la 

•  De  Mor,  Germ,  x. 


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Myths.']  The  Rod  and  Rhabdomafuy.  53 

marking  the  pieces  different  ways,  and  casting  them  pell-mell  and 
at  hazard  on  a  white  garment  The  priest  or  the  father  of  the 
family  then  drew  conclusions  from  the  lie  of  the  sticks.  Ammianus 
Marcellinus  (/.  31)  described  a  similar  practice  of  the  women 
among  the  Alans  who  foretold  the  future  by  very  straight  rods, 
cut  with  secret  enchantments  at  certain  times  and  marked  very 
carefully. 

The  diyining-rod,  which  in  France  200  years  ago  was  generally 
such  a  young  sapling  of  the  coudrier  or  nut  as  sprang  naturally 
forked  from  near  the  ground,  was  to  be  cut  with  a  single  sweep  of 
the  knife  on  Mercury's  day  (Wednesday)  at  the  planetary  hour  of 
Mercury.  It  was  inscribed  with  certain  characters  and  enchanted 
with  a  prayer,  now  lost  to  us.  Pierre  Belon  of  Mans  called  it  the 
caduc^e  which  in  Latin  is  named  virga  divina,  and  which  the 
Germans  use  in  spying  out  veins  of  ore.*  Matthias  Willenus  wrote 
on  the  divining-rod  a  tractate  which  he  called  De  vera  Virgulce 
Mercurialis  relatione  (Jena,  1672?).  This  use  of  the  divining-rod  for 
the  discovery  of  mines  must  have  been  of  extremely  ancient  date. 
The  German  Benedictine  Basilius  Valentinus  gave  seven  chapters 
to  it  in  his  Testamentum  (circa  1490),  stating  that  it  was  in  very 
common  use  among  the  miners  of  Germany.  Georgius  Agricola 
in  his  De  re  inetallicA^  '5  50,  also  treated  of  it  as  an  ordinary 
appliance  of  the  German  miners.* 

Were  Herm6s,  as  the  emissary  of  the  gods,  a  messenger  who 
went  up  and  down  the  Universe-Axis  between  heavens  and  earth, 
it  would  accord  with  many  points  about  him  :  as,  his  winged  wand 
of  gold,'  which  would  be  the  symbol  of  the  Axis  itself ;  his  phallic 
symbolism,  which  also  belongs  to  the  Axis  ;  his  musical  accom- 
plishments, for  we  have  numerous  Axis-gods  who  are  musical ;  his 
dispensing  of  good  luck,  for  Fortune's  wheel  (of  the  Universe) 
turns  upon  his  wand,  three-leafed  and  golden  ;  his  head-dress,  for 
as  Paul  de  Saint- Victor  says*:  "two  light  wings  quiver  on  his 
rounded  cap,  the  vault  of  heaven  in  little  "  (see  also  "  The  Winged 
Sphere"). 

A  remark  of  Festus  here  aids  me.  He  said  the  Greeks  used 
herma,  Ipfta,  pro  firmamento,  and  one  of  its  significations  clearly  was 
a  prop  or  support.  This  seems  to  me  to  be  referable  to  the  axis. 
Festus  (as  garbled)  went  on  to  say  that  the  name  of  Mercurius — 

*  Observations^  (^553)  >>  50|  i6.        *  de  Vallemont*s  Physique  occuUe^  1696,  p.  10. 

•  Odyssey^  xxiv,  2.  ^  J^s  deux  masques  (in  Myih^  KU,  and  ReL,  ii,  259). 


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54  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

he  must  have  meant 'E/)/a^9 — came  from  this  Ipfia;  and  this  in 
my  view  would  make  Hermes  an  axis-,  an  Atlas-god. 

Indeed  I  think  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  winged 
caduceus  is  the  winged  Axis  which  turns,  or  upon  which  turns,  the 
whole  gigantic  machine.     Perrot  and  Chipiez  (iv,  fig.  353)  give  a 

"  Hittite "  caduceus  of  the  Phcenician  type  9    where  the  round 

part  is  a  sphere  in  relief,  the  sphere  on  the  axis  in  point  of  fact 
A  similar  instance  is  pointed  out  by  M.  Goblet  d'Alviella'  in  De 
Witte  and  Lenormant's  Monuments  Cirafnographiques,  The  wings 
of  the  Rod-axis  must  be  allowed  the  same  import  as  those  of  the 
Winged  Sphere  (see  that  section)  and  of  Kronos,  that  is  to  say  the 
impelling-round,  the  flying-round,  of  the  Universal  Sphere  upon  its 

axis.  On  the  (Phoenician  tolonial)  coins  of  Carthage  the  9  inter- 
changes with  the  winged  sphere  ^^^L^^  above  the  horse.'  On 
stelae  of  similar  origin,  the  same  ** caduceus"  permutes  with  the 
ring  (or  wheel-tire?)  at  either  side  of  the  cone*  (or  triangle?). 
The  possibility  and  significance  of  this  mutation  explains  itself 
tout  seul  on  the  Universe-rotation  theory — and  on  no  other. 

M.  Ph.   Berger  connects  the  Phoenician  9  with  the  Hebrew 

ashdrah,*  that  is  of  course  (as  here  abundantly  shown)  with  the 

Universe-Tree  whose  trunk  is  the  axis.     That  the  y  was  used  as 

a  war-standard  and  as  a  battle-axe — a  god's  celestial  weapon — ^is 
clear  from  M.  Goblet's*  book  above  quoted,  pp.  288  to  291.  Like 
the  ^gl^^,  the  dokana  (which  see),  and  many  other  supreme 
symbols,  it  was  sacred  and  ritualistic,  and  was  also  taken  to  the 

'  As  to  this  symbol,  see  "The  Trident." 
'  Migration  da  SymboUs  (1891)  286. 

•  Ibid,  289  (citing  Hunter,  table  xv,  14 ;  and  Lajard  pi.  xlv,  5). 
^  Ibid,  (citing  Corp,  inscrip,  Semitic,  tab.  liv,  368). 

*  Gaz,  ArcfUol.  1880,  127. 

<  I  have  to  thank  M.  Henri  Gaidoz  for  drawing  my  attention  to  this  just-published 
book  (Paris,  Leroux,  1891)  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  Paris  (i8th  April  1891)  when 
this  first  volume  of  this  Inquiry  was  partly  in  print.  I  have  much  pleasure  in  directing 
the  attention  of  students  to  its  numerous  well-winnowed,  well-grouped,  and  clearly- 
presented  facts  and  illustrations.  Even  setting  aside  its  migration  theories  altogether  (as 
to  which  liberavi  animam  meam  in  the  Disputatio  Circulatis)^  it  is  a  most  able  and 
useful  publication.  Here  and  there  I  kept  on  fancying  as  I  read  on,  that  M.  Goblet 
d'Alviella  was  nearing  some  of  the  theories  of  this  Inquiry  ;  but  no  :  he  passed  by  on  the 
other  side. 


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Myths.']  The  Rod  and  Rhabdomancy.  55 

battle  as  a  talisman,  a  representative  of  the  great  god  (of  war). 
Here  in  this  double  function,  religious  and  warlike,  we  have  the 
whole  genesis  of  the  inviolability  of  insignia  of  authority:  the 
standard,  le  drapeau,  the  flag,  the  ensign,  the  rod  of  empire,  the 
regalia,  the  sceptre,  the  mace,  the  wand,  the  staff  of  office,  le  biton 
de  Marshal,  le  vei^e  du  Sergent,  and  even  the  truncheon  truncated 
of  its  emblems.      In   spite  of  all   that.    Mercury  favouring,  the 

winged  y  (save  for  the  persistent  attachment  of  ^  to  the  planet 

Mercury,  and  of  y  to  Taurus,  in  the  almanacks)  has  now  sunk  down 
to  a  mere  dummy  stereo  or  cliche  in  engravings  of  Industry  and 
Commerce. 

Of  course  it  is  the  merest  puerility  to  derive  Mercurius  from 
merx  merchandise,  as  Festus  did.  The  word  is  doubtless  mer  -f 
curius  ;  and  curius  comes  from  curis,  an  Osk  word,  the  Sabine  spear 
(see  Index).  Merus  means  pure  and,  as  also  meaning  "  central 
essential,"  is  put  by  Mr.  E.  R.  Wharton*  with  the  Oldlrish  meddn, 
and  is  so  compared  with  Latin  medius,  as  follows  : 

"  J/<frar  unadulterated  :  *  central,  essential,*  «  *medus  MEDH-  Me^wi'iy  a 
town,  Olr.  tnedbn  /Wo-w,  cf.  MEDH- J-  medius." 

"fUo-a-os  middle  :  *fi4$'joSf  Lati  medius^  Olr.  meddtiy  Got.  midjis  Eng., 
OSlav.  meidinu^^ 
Now  here  we  are  at  once  taken  to  the  MeDea  class  of  words 
(which  see),  and  MerCurius  becomes  the  central-Speargod.  There 
is  an  old  recognition  of  the  first  syllable  mer-  meaning  middle  in 
Arnobius  (iii,  ii8)*:  Mercurius  etiam  quasi  quidam  medi-currius 
dictus.     That  is  middle-runner  (medius  -f  curro). 

Mer-  is  to  be  found  in  the  names  of  many  other  divinities. 
M^po9  Meros  Merus  was  the  Indian  Mt.  Meru,  which  the  classic 
ancients  considered  sacred  to  Jupiter  and  Mercury. 

A  friend  has  here  favoured  me  with  the  following  note,  which  seems  to 
run  counter  to  my  speculations  :  "  Latin  medius  (Greek  \U<to%^  Sanskrit  madhyas) 
contains  original  dh  which  never  becomes  r  in  Latin,  d  it  is  true  sometimes 
becomes  r  in  Latin,  but  in  that  case  no  Greek  or  Indian  word  would  show  the 
r  (as  in  M^por  and  Meru)." 

Merops  Mepoyjr  the  putative  father  of  ^aidcDv  the  Brilliant  (who 
was  really  the  son  of  Helios)  may  perhaps  be  put  in  the  category 
of  gods  in  Mer-,  as  must  Merop^  daughter  of  Atlas  (or  one  of  the 
Pleiades,  or  the  daughter  of  Sol  and  sister  of  Phaeth6n). 

'  Etyma  Latina  and  Graca. 

*  See  aUo  S.  Augustine  Civ,  Dei,  vii,  14,  and  Isid.  Orig.  viii,  II. 


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56  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [A. 


xis 


fiipoy^  bee-eater,  and  yAponts  men,  are  here  very  puzzling.     (A  god  of  the 
West  would  be  a  bee-eater,  a  star-eater,  as  the  constellations  set.) 
So  must   Mermeros  the  Centaur.     Here  it  is  impossible  to  avoid 
reference  to  all  that  is  said  elsewhere  as  to  Marmar  (see  Index). 

Yama  (=  restrainer  ?)  the  first  man  is  titled  Dandi  or  Danda- 
dhara,  the  Rod-bearer.  The  celestial  Dandaka  forest  lies  between 
the  heavens-rivers  God^vari  and  Narmad^. 

The  lituus  of  the  sheep- shepherd  was  called  a  pedum  (seizer?). 
It  is  found  in  the  hands  of  Pan,  the  Fauni,  Acteon,  Ganymede, 
Attis,  Paris,  and  so  forth.  But  the  lituus  with  which  the  Roman 
augur  traced  his  divination  templum  was  the  distinctive  ensign  of 
an  augur,  and  had  been  in  use  time  immemorial,  as  the  fact  that 
lituus  is  an  Etruscan  word  and  the  preservation  of  the  lituus  "  of 
Romulus  "  in  the  curia  of  the  Salii*  might  attest.  A  drawing  of  it 
will  be  found  farther  on. 

The  nio-i  (Chinese  ju-i)  is  a  short  curved  wand  commonly- 
ending  in  a  kind  of  trefoil.  It  is  used  in  Japan  chiefly  by  the 
Buddhist  high  priests  of  the  Zen  sect,  and  it  is  generally  carved 
from  jade  or  some  other  precious  stufl^.* 

The  Egyptian  rod  or  wand  was  some  five  feet  in  length,  and 

held  thus  |j^      It  ended  in  a  flower  or  a  knob,  and  was  a  token  of 

command  and  distinction.'  The  god  Nefer-Atmu  (Ptah's  son) 
rests  upon  his  shoulder  the  magic  wand  which  looks  like  a  horned 
serpent  »<-ew,  and  would  thus  give  a  pregnant  gloss  upon  the  bible- 
story  of  the  rods  of  Aaron  and  the  other  magicians.     However, 

the  head  is  said  to  be  a  ram's,  and  its  name  is  ur  hekau    3?^  8  L-J . 

It  replaced  the  instrument  f — %  in  the  ceremony  of  opening  the 
mummy's   mouth.*     The  lituus  which  was  the   Roman   augur's 

crooked  "  crozier-*'wand   \^   is   found   upon   the  divine   headdress 

\J  net  or  "^  which  connects  an  Egyptian  deity  with  the  North, 
and  also  upon  that  ry  "^  o  se;^et  which  implies  power  over 
both  North  and  South  (see  Sesennu) ;  but  not  upon  that  which 
indicates  gods  of  the  south  alone,  the  nefer  Q  This  seems  an 
important  series  of  facts,  as  connecting  the  lituus  specially  with 

*  Cicero,  Divin.  i,  17. 

-  Anderson's  (most  valual)le)  Cat.  of  Jap,  paitUings  in  Brit,  Mtis.^  pp.  32,  66. 

3  Pierret:  Did.  (TArck,  Egypt.  112,  213.  ^  Pierret :   Vocab.  ill,  380. 


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MyiAs.] 


The  Rod  and  Rhabdomancy. 


57 


the  North  and,  sis  I  should  be  disposed  to  maintain,  with  the 
Northern  end  of  the  Universe-Axis  ;  while  the  pristine  type  of  all 
magic  rods  would  be  the  axis  itself.  The  Egyptian  rods  were  also 
standards  (with  or  without  flags  ?)  in  the  priest's  hands  in  sacred 
processions  and  ceremonies;  and  they  were  then  topped  with  a 
god's  hat,  a  sacred  animal,  a  naos,  a  lotus-flower,  a  sacred  barque, 
and  so  forth.*    The  uas  1  or  sceptre  borne  by  some  gods  is  clearly  a 

variety  of  the  wand.    The  '*  greyhound's  "  head  with  ears  laid-back 

which  tops  it  may  refer  to  the  dog  at  the  North  end  of  the  Axis  ? 

As  to  these  ears,  however,  Mr.  Flinders  Petrie's   remarkable 

^Nv         exhibition  of   1890  contained  a  lintel  from  the  temple 

^^^^v     of  Tehutimes   III    at   Gurob   which  seemed  to  me  so 

^  p\  forcibly   to  suggest  an   ass's  head   on   the   uas  that  I 

\     ^  ventured     to     take    a  ^: 

rough      sketch     of     it. 

(Portion  of  the  A;^imu 

have  the  uas  ears.)     It 

is  strange  enough   that 

in  Ovid's  (Met.  xi,  85) 
legend  of  Pan's  companion  Midas 
we  have  both   the   ass's  ears  and 
the  wand  (under  the  alias  of  the 
reeds  that  whisper).     There  is  also 
a  horse-eared   or  ass-eared    Irish 
Lynch.     Mr.  Flinders   Petrie   has 
also  in  the  kindest  way  lent  me 
for  engrraving   the   two  examples   of  animal 
staff-heads  which  here  follow,  of  the  full  size. 
They  were  probably  held   in   the  hands  of 
statuettes  of  gods  or  kings.     The  face  of  the 
smaller,  which  is  of  bronze,  looks  like  some 
antelope,    and    when     contrasted    with    the 
ass-head    drawing    seems    to    add    point    to 
W.  Pleyte's  somewhat  vague  statement  tliat 
"  provisionally  we  might  theorise  the  symbolic 
head  of  the  god  Set  to  be  composed  of  tlie 
oryx  or  the  ass,  with  the  two  feathers  of  Set- 
Nehes."*     The   monstrous   conventional    ears 


^ 


*  Pienret,  DicL  1 1 2,  213. 

'  Lettn  d  Th,  Devh-ia,  Leide,  1863,  p. 


3i" 


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5^  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

which  form  the  top  of  the  other  (a  wooden)  staff-head,  do  seem 
almost  to  differentiate  off  into  the  two  feathers  of  head-dresses. 
In  this  case  the  face  is  unmistakeably  like  a  greyhound ;  and  no 
one  can  possibly  say  that  all  the  three  types  were  taken  from  any 
one  animal  The  connection  of  Set  with  this  staff  or  sceptre  is  of 
course  a  moot  point,  and  more  ;nay  perhaps  be  said  about  it  under 
the  heading  "  Set" 

The  heq   j  or  pedum  is  even  more  like  a  bishop's  crozier  than 

the  lituus.  It  was  a  sign  of  authority  (joined  to  the  scourge)  in 
the  hands  Of  Osiris  and  the  Pharaohs ;  and  tieq  meant  to  govern, 

direct,  conduct ;  and  also  princC)  regent    The  uat'  sceptre  J,  with 

the  lotUs-flower,  is  peculiar  to  goddesses,  and  is  rendered  a-tcrJTrrpov 
in  the  Decree  of  Canopus.    The  word  also  meant  pillar,  prop,  and 

adoration.     The  Sceptre   \  of   King   Semempses  f    ^  J  of  the 

first  dynasty  Sometimes  differs  from  the  Uas  at  the  wrong  end  of 
the  stick)  the  South.  Mr.  Petrie  remarks  that  this  figure  of 
Semempses  is  the  regulation  Ptah. 

But  M.  Pierret  says  (Z^V/.  496)  "  thete  was  no  toyal  sceptre  properly  so- 
called."  De  Roug^  said  {Notice  Sommairey  86)  "the  I'ecurved  stick  has  the 
simple  form  of  the  royal  sceptre*'* 

This  "sceptre"  |  is  still  now  often  carried  as  a  "stick"  by  the 

Bedawfn  of  the  Sinai  peninsula  -}  and  Mr.  Petrie  says  it  is  evidently 
a  natural  branch  with  the  thick  stem- part  carved  into  a  head.  If 
there  be  anything  in  my  conjectures  about  Set  (see  also  Index), 
this  may  be  important 

M.  Pierret'  remarks  that  the  Use  of  the  head  of  the  stick  in  the 
Egyptian  oath,  to  which  Chabas  drew  attention  in  the  Abbott 
papyrus,  femains  to  be  explained.  I  shall  just  note  down  the 
following  coincidences  for  future  examination  ; 

I  ^  ^j*^^     apt,  stick,  measuring-rod,  plank. 


'  °  Hr       ^P^  ^^  Apet,  the  goddess  Thoueris. 
^    ams,  stick  or  ensign. 
^v  gJl-s  j^     Amseth,  "  funeral  genius." 


Will  it  turn-out  that  there  is  any  connection  between  the  Egyptian  name 
of  (the  Greek)  Osiris,  and  this  uas  sceptre  ?    Dev^ria  gave  Osiris  as   Uasri 
*  Baedeker :  L(nv4r  Egypt y  468.  '  Vocab*  405. 


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Myihs.\  The  Rod  and  Rhabdomancy.  59 


^  )     "     m  ^,  and  it  is  also  given*  as  As-ra,  jj  "^     Is  the  god's  name 
compounded  of  Uas  and  Ra  ?    As  itself  jj  rs  is  Isis,  and  as  was  also  a  ^welling 

[I ;  but  she  was  also  called  Hes   ft   ^^^  ^^   which  was  too  the  name  of 

the  sacred  heifer  adored  from  the  most  ancient  times  of  the  Egyptian  empire  ; 
hes  was  also  a  vase. 

Uas  as  the  sceptre  1  was  wiitten  -y  |  ^^^  I 
Uash,  to  invoke  ^  ]  ^^.  CSCD  ^ 
Uas,  a  greyhound,  T  ^  (see  also  Index). 


Uat,  Thebes, 


A©- 


M.  Pierret  says  1  was  not  always  read  as  uas,  and  gives  as  examples  1    11 

uab  and  1  -^^  smu.    Dr.  Birch  gives  uab  and  us  for  T  and  1, 
The  following  transcriptions  of  Osiris  are  from  Dr.  Birch's  Egyptian  Texts.* 
Asar  (twice)  ri  - 


4th  dynasty. 

i8th         „ 

i8th 

i8th 

1 3th,  30th,  and  a6th  dynasty. 

1 8th  dynasty. 

38th       „ 

Asar  (once)  and  Hesar  (thrice)  ■^'^"^ 

Hesar  J|-<a>- 

Asar  (four  times)  H  .<sz>-  J^   . 

Asar  (four  times)  rj  -^     • 
Asar    PI'S         .... 
Asar^        >        .        -        . 

The  god  Ans-Ra  (| ®  ^   occurs  in  the  Per^em-hru^  i.e.^  "The  Book 

of  Coming  Forth  by  day "  (Book  of  the  Dead)  xlii,  2  j'  Wiedemann*  gives 
(among  other  readings)  Heseri  for  Osiris ;  Auser  has  also  been  proposed  (as 
well  as  Auset   for    Isis)  ;  and  the  latest  and  nearest   reading  for  Osiris  is 

Mr.  Budge's  Ausares   (|  ^  H  ^^  ^  .• 

To  these  magic  wands  belong  the  Staff  of  Solomon  given  to 
King  Bahr^m  Guhr  in  the  Persian  tale  by  the  lord  of  one  of  the 
four  cardinal  Kif-mountains  of  the  Universe.  It  caused  any  door 
to  fly  open,  no  matter  how  strong  it  might  be,  and  even  if  guarded 

*  Pierret's  Vocab.  48,  109*  •  Bagster  and  Sons,  ».  d,  ■  Pierret,  Vacab,  37. 
■•  Wiedemann,  Aegypfisches  Gtsckichte^  p.  108. 

*  Brit.  Mus.  Papyrus  10,188,  Col.  xxviii.  1.  21.     Ed.  Budge,  On  the  Hieratic  Papyrus 
0/ Nesi-Amsuy  in  ArcAaec/ogta,  voL  lii*  p»  166. 


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6o  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

by  talismans  and  enchantments.  In  the  KathA  Sarit  Sdgara  what- 
ever is  written  on  the  staff  of  the  (male)  Asura  Maya  comes  true. 
In  Stanislas  Julien's  Indian  tales  from  the  Chinese  the  enemies  of 
the  Two  (demon)  Pisashas  yield  humbly  to  their  staves.  In  the 
Tamil  Madana  Kdmardja  Kadai^  one  cudgel  can  belabour  enemies 
if  aimed  at  them,  and  another  can  put  a  vast  army  to  death  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye.  In  a  Norse  tale  the  North-Wind  gives  the 
Lad  a  stick  which  lays-on  when  told-to. 

It  might  be  asked  whether  the  sortes  Virgilianae,  the  consulting  of  Vergilius 
in  preference  to  other  authors  for  omens,  may  not  have  been  due  to  a  connection 
of  his  name  with  virga  which,  though  a  conmion  word,  was  applied  to  the 
caduceus  of  Mercury.  This  would  be  one  way  of  accounting  for  his  reputation 
as  a  diviner.  De  Quincey  suggested  that  his  necromancing  character  grew  out 
of  the  fact  that  his  mother's  father  was  called  Magus.*  But  Homer  was  resorted 
to  for  the  same  purpose. 

A  strange  revival  of  the  rhabdomantic  craze  is  just  now  in  progress  ;  and 
the  Fortnightly  Review  for  August  1890  furnished  some  interesting  information 
about  it.  The  advancers  of  this  kind  of  thing  are  by  no  means  to  be  set  down 
as  "  dotty  in  the  crumpet "  (as  they  say  in  East  Kent) :  very  very  far  from  it 
indeed,  one  would  guess.  "  A  patient  who  is  not  put  to  sleep,  or  in  any  way 
placed  under  hypnotism,  places  his  hands  on  those  of  a  *  subject'  who  is 
hypnotised,  while  an  assistant  moves  a  big  magnetised  rod  with  three  branches 
for  a  minute  or  two  in  front  of  the  arms  of  the  patient  and  subject.  ...  If 
the  '  subject '  is  a  woman  and  the  patient  a  man,  she  becomes  convinced  that 
she  is  a  man,  and  talks  about  her  whiskers  "  [risum  teneatis,  amici  I]  "  With  the 
aid  of  a  dynamometer  you  can  measure  the  exact  amount  of  power  transferred 
from  the  subject  to  the  patient "(!)  Remark  however  the  trident  reappearing 
at  the  end  of  the  Rod. 

And,  after  all,  multitudes  of  very  worthy  folk  still  piously  and  literally 
believe  that  the  Egyptian  magicians  "  cast  down  every  man  his  Rod,  and  they 
became  serpents  " ;  while  the  greater  magician"  Aaron's  Rod  swallowed  up  their 
Rods".«  Readers  of  this  Inquiry  should  careftiUy  note  that  Aaron  equals 
Mountain  or  The  High,  and  that  the  Universe  Mountain-Rod  is  in  all  legends 
the  unique  Atlas-Axis  ;  several  axis-deities  are  also  seen  to  be  swallowed  up  by 
the  Earth  in  the  course  of  the  Inquiry,  The  connection  of  the  Serpent  and  the 
Rod  is  also  a  universal  myth,  and  no  instance  of  it  is  unimportant. 

Thq  blossoming  rod  is  paralleled  by  the  brazen  club  of 
H^rakl^s,  which  (apud  Lampridium)  .sweated  at  Minucia. 
Another  of  his  cudgels  was  of  wild-olive,  and  he  dedicated  it  to 
Hermes  after  the  war  with  the  giants.  It  took  root,  and  became 
a  monster  tree.  Euripides  called  the  club  of  Th^seUs  EpiDaurian 
because  he  won  it  from  the  giant  PeriPh^t^s  whom  he  killed  in 

'  One  traditional  distortion  of  his  name  is  the  Irish  hedge-schoolboy *s  reading  of 
P.  Vergilii  Maronis  as  Paddy  Virgil  the  Mariner. 
*  Exodus f  vii,  12. 


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Myths ^  The  Rod  and  Rhabdomancy.  6' 

EpiDauros^  And  Dauros  of  course  is  cognate  with  iopv,  the  spear 
of  Kronos. 

The  riding  of  witches  on  sticks,  if  one  reflects  upon  it,  seems 
groundless  nonsense  until  connected  with  the  axis  conception  of 
the  Rod.  Of  the  two  omentum-spits  (vapishrapants)  for  roast- 
ing the  navel-fat  at  the  sacrifices  in  the  Satapatha-brdhmana^  one 
was  quite  straight,  the  other  bifurcate  on  the  top,  which  is  like  the 
rod  used  for  water-finding  and  the  uas  sceptre. 

The  beating  of  bounds  (or  of  boys  round  bounds)  with  rods 
must  not  be  forgotten.  At  the  annual  festival  of  D^m^t^r  at 
Pheneos  in  Arcadia  the  priest  hid  his  face  with  the  round  cover  of 
the  petroma  ( — the  custom  of  looking  in  the  hat  is  still  kept  up  in 
English  churches — )  and  beat  with  rods  the  worshippers  who  filed 
before  him.*  But  this  beating  is  also  to  be  connected  with  some 
prior  human  sacrifice — perhaps  beating  to  death  with  clubs. 

Ascension- T'A^rjday  is  the  date  for  bounds-beating  with  long 
willow  wands  peeled  or  not;  and  the  three  days  before  it  are 
rogation  or  asking  days.  The  week  is  called  the  gang-  (gangan, 
to  go)  or  procession-week,  a  name  as  archaic  as  these  pagan 
perambulations,  which  halted  for  worship  at  holy  trees  and  wells. 
The  connection  of  these  processions  with  the  ascension  or  re- 
ascension  of  a  heaven-descended  deity  must  again  claim  attention 
under  the  heading  of  "  The  Dokana." 

*  J.  Eggeljng's,  ii,  194,  •  Pans,  viii,  15,  I. 


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62 


The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 


5. — The  Fleur-de-Lis  at  the  point  of  the 
Universe--^;r/^. 

SURMOUNTED  by  the  fleur-de-Lis,  the  earth-Axis  is 
depicted  pointing  to  the  North  on  almost  every  map  of  every 
country ;  and  the  same  symbol  of  the  fleur-de-Lis  is  found 
universally  on  the  needles  of  the  most  ancient  mariner's  compasses. 
"  This  Mariners  Compasse,"  said  Henry  Peacham  in  his  Compleat 
Gentleman  (1627)  "hath  the  needle  in  manner  of  a  Flowre-deluce 
which  pointeth  still  to  the  North"  (p.  65).  With  this  must  be 
bracketed  the  three-leafed  wand  of  Hermes.  Passing  by  for  the 
moment  its  by  no  means  inconsistent  significance  as  the  masculine 
emblem  of  fecundity,  the  most  ancient  Egyptian,  Assyrian, 
Persian,  Arabic,  Armenian,  Byzantine,  and  European  examples ; 
whether  on  sceptres,  crowns,  helmets,  coins,  seals,  or  monuments  ; 
whether  in  mosques  or  in  tombs ;  in  art,  in  heraldry,  in  industry, 
or  on  playing-cards,  show  the  fleur-de-Lis  to  be  no  lily-flower  but 
a  triple  unison,  the  emblem  of  a  triad.  Its  French  renown  is  a 
mere  modem  vulgarisation,  an  adoption  during  the  crusades  and 
dating  from  Louis  VII,  about  A.D,  11 37.  It  is  amusing  to  find 
that  it  was  popularly  believed  that  the  directors  of  the  Mus^e  du 
Louvre  had  added  the  fleur-de-Lis  to  the  first  arrival  of  Nineveh 
antiquities  as  a  base  flattery  of  Louis  XVIII.  It  is,  I  suggest, 
briefly  the  emblem  of  the  Chinese  Tai-Ki,  the  origin  of  all  things, 
with  the  dual  co-principles  yin  and  yang,  into  which  that  origin 
opened  or  divided. 

Tai-ki,  the  Yin,  and  the  Yang — in  Japan  the  In-y6 — form  the 
triad  represented  by  Hatori  and  Hirata  in  their  cosmic  diagrams. 
The  primitive  mode  chosen  by  these  Japanese  commentators  for 
the  representation  of  the  triad  consists  in  three  black  spots  shown 
at  the  upper  portion  of  a  large  circle  which  figures  the  heavens. 
The  pole-star  is  the  upper  part  of  the  heavens,  said  Hirata,^  and 
must  therefore  have  been  the  habitation  of  the  three  primeval  kami 
or  gods,  who  are  (i)  Ame  no  Minaka-Nushi,Lord  of  the  Awful-centre 
of  Heaven  (not  simply  "  of  the  middle,"  or  "  in  the  very  centre,"  as  it 
has  been  rendered),  (2)  Taka  Mimusubi,  and  (3)  Kamu  Mimusubi,  or 

'  Mr.  Satow's  Ihtre  Shifttd,  60,  61. 


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MytAs.]  The  Fleur-de-Lis,  63 

the  ineffably-begotten  Taka  and  Kamu,  who  can  have  no  connection 
with  the  Sun,  as  has  been  surmised,  but  correspond  to  the  Chinese 
yin  and  yang,  while  Tai-Ki  is  represented  by  the  Japanese  Centre- 
Lord.  The  true  root-signification  of  Kamu  is  to  be  sought  in  kami 
upper,  whence  god,  and  Taka  is  no  more  than  taka  height ;  but 
both  words  are  obviously  adjectival  names,  and  not  empty 
honorifics,  as  the  Japanese  Shintdists  now  seem  to  think. 

It  would  be  impossible  fully  to  develop  the  remoteness  and 
universality  of  the  fleur-de-Lis  emblem  without  reproducing  a 
great  portion  of  M.  Adalbert  de  Beaumont's  Essay  on  the  subject, 
and  some  of  its  438  well-chosen  designs.^  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
the  emblem  is  here  traced  farther  even  than  he  has  followed  it,  for 
preoccupied  by  the  flower  idea  he — in  common  with  the  late 
Francois  Lenormant — makes  it  the  hom  or  haoma,  the  sacred 
plant,  the  tree  of  life  of  Mazdeism.  As  the  haoma  or  world-Tree 
myth  is  in  this  Inquiry  identified  with  that  of  the  Universe-Axis, 
the  conclusion  reached  by  a  totally  independent  path  is,  I  find  not 
without  satisfaction,  practically  the  same  as  that  of  M.  de 
Beaumont,  whose  captivating  Essay  I  did  not  read  until  this 
chapter  was  far  advanced.  If  previous  speculations  be  consulted* 
it  will  probably  be  concluded  that  we  have  here  too  the  long- 
sought  origin  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Plume  (as  to  which  see  also 
the  heading  of  "  Feathers"), 

The  Irish  emblem  too,  as  well  as  the  French,  still  retains  its 
triune  significance  ;  and  thus,  though  it  now  grows  underfoot,  the 
Shamrock — the  word  is  also  in  Persian— is  to  be  carried  back  to 
the  same  supernal,  universal  origin.  Wherever  the  white-skinned 
yellow-haired  Welsh  Olwen  trod  there  sprang  up  four  white 
trefoils.*  Here  we  have  the  shamrock  and  the  footprint 
together.  The  symbolism  of  the  four-leaved  shamrock 
would  refer  to  the  cardinal  points  (see  "  The  Four  Living  w^^M^ 
Creatures").  It  may  be  seen  in  the  palms  and 
(more  conventionally)  on  the  breast  of  "  the  Buddha  V^ 
of  Bengal,  as  a  Brahminical  avatar,"  in  Moor's 
HindA  Pantheon  (plate  75).  manos 

[It  should  be  noted  that  the  Egyptian  hieroglyph  for  East  is  %  which 
might  be  thought  to  be  the  needle-point    This  point  is  not  clear  to  me.] 

*  Recherches  sur  Porigine  du  Blason  ;  et  en  particulur  sur  la  FUur  de  Lis.     Paris, 
Leleux,  1853. 

'  See,  for  instance,  Fraset^s  Ma^zine  for  188 1.  ■  Rhys*s  Hib.  Lecis.  490. 


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^4  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


^o 


The  following  emblems,  analogous  to  or  identical  with  the  fleur- 
de-Lis  are  taken  from  Moor's  HindA  Pantheon, 

I.  pendant  lotus-blossom   held  by  four-handed 
Vishnu  (plate  75)        . 


2.  lotus-blossoms,  chaliced  flowers 
that  lie,  on  the  surface  of 
the  waters  whereon  floats 
NAr^yana the  Supreme  Spirit 
"moving  on  the  waters''* 
(plate  20)     . 


3.  held  in  left  hand   of  D^vi  (goddess)  consort  of 

Shiva  (plate  41) 

4.  these  appear  right  and  left  of  the  head  of  the 

man-bird-god  Garuda  (plate  40)     . 

5.  three  of  the  numerous  sect-marks  of  ^v^ 

Vishnu-worshippers  (plate  2)        •  I  I  I 

6.  held  by  four-handed  D^vi-BhavAnl . 


7.  on    head-dress    of    Shiva-Bhairava    (plate    95). 

Compare  helmet  from  Nineveh,  p.  64. 

8.  held  by  four-handed  Vy^ghra  Y^yt  (plate  40) 

In  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Wright's  Empire  of  tlie  Hittites,  are 
drawings  of  several  of  the  triple  en)blems  resembling  the  fleur-de-Lis 
and  the  shamrock  which  are  found  among  the  Khetan  ("  Hittite  ") 
sculptured  characters  of  Asia  Minor : 


^  <h^ 


*  Sir  Monier  Williams,  Hinduism,  loi  ;  Manu,  i,  10. 


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Myths.] 


The  Fleur-de-Lis. 


65 


f^Tl^ 


There  is  another  distinct  type  of  flower-and-leaf "  Hittite  "  emblems 
which  may  also  have  a  triple  significance,  as  well  as  a  connection 
with  the  haoma  or  soma  plant  of  eternal  life  : 


<^^ 


[Capt  Conder*  suggests  that  the  first  group  (of  three)  mean  life^ 
and  the  second  group  (of  three)  signify  male.  The  fourth  of  the 
third  group  he  considers  an  Aaron's  rod  or  sceptre ;  and  the  fourth 
group  mean  growth  he  believes,  or  to  live!\ 

The  fleurnde-Lis  is  shown  clearly  on  the  helmet-top  of  one  of  the 
colossal  figures  at  an  entrance  of  Kuyunjik,  as  engraved  by 
Layard*  and  now  in  the  British  Museum.  See  also  No.  7  just 
below.  Capt  Conder  notes  the  fleur-de-Lis  as  a  frequent  mason's- 
mark  in  Syria.*  A  few  ancient  examples  of  the  fleur-de-Lis  are 
here  added  from  De  Beaumont : 


No.  I  is  from  a  tomb  at  Teheran ; 

2,  from  a  Maroccan  MS.  of  the  Koran,  xiith  century ; 

3,  from  a  Kufic  MS  of  the  viiith  century ; 

'  Altaic  Hieroglyphs,  65,  57,  102.    *  Nineveh  and  Babylon ,  462.    *  Heih  and  Moab^  56 

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66  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

No.  4,  Egyptian  gold  collar  ornament ; 

5,  handle  of  an  Egyptian  wooden  spoon  ; 

6,  on  crown  of  a  sphinx  ; 

7,  Royal  helmet,  Nineveh ; 

8,  Arab  coin  (from  Marsden) ; 

9,  crown  of  King  David— Saxon  MS.  of  xith  century,  Brit  Mus.  (fix)n;i 

Twining's  Symbols  of  Christian  Arty  1885), 

The  North  and  South  emblems  for  Lower  j^  and  Upper  Jf  Egypt 
are  triple  (and  tri-triple)  like  the  fleur-de-Lis,  and  deserve  notice/ 
What  is  called  by  the  art-experts  a  "lily"  on  a 
bishop's   mitre   of  the  xiiith    century  given   by   Du 
Sommerard  in  Les  Arts  du  Moyen  Age,  is  clearly  a 
fleur-de-Lis. 

An  Arabic  name  for  the  star  Arcturus  (Somech- 
haramach)  is  properly  Al-siro^k  al-rdmih,  "the  prop 
that  carries  a  spear  "-head.  Rumh*  means  the  spear- 
head itself,  and  I  think  we  thus  have  the  clue  to  the 
true  origin  of  the  rhumbs  of  the  compass,  which  has  been  such 
a  fruitful  source  of  discussions. 

The  transfer  of  the  word  in  treatises  on  navigation  from  the  radius  (spear) 
of  the  compass  to  the  corresponding  line  steered  on  the  globe  by  a  ship  seems 
to  have  been  the  origin  of  much  of  the  confusion.  Hues  says  (p.  127)  that 
"  those  lines  which  a  ship,  following  the  direction  of  the  magnetical  needle, 
describeth  on  the  surface  of  the  sea,  Petrus  Nonius  (Pedro  Nunez,  1567) 
calleth  in  the  Latin  Rumbos,  borrowing  the  appellation  of  his  countrymen  the 
Portugals;  which  word,  since  it  is  now  (1594- 1638)  generally  received  by 
learned  writers  to  express  them  by,  we  also  will  use  the  same."  And  again 
(p.  130)  "when  a  ship  saileth  according  to  one  and  the  same  rumbe  (except  it 
be  one  of  the  four  principal  and  cardinal  rumbes)  it  is  a  crooked  and  spiral  line" 
she  describes  on  the  globe. 

Another  similarly  named  star  is  Spica,  the  corrupt  Arabic  name 
for  which,  Hazimath  al-hacel,  is  for  Al-simak-al-a'zal,  the  unarmed 
prop. 

The  Egyptian  Ptah  was  the  embodiment  of  organising  motive  power,  the 
symbol  of  the  ever-active  ^shioning  generative  energy  developed  from 
moisture,  and  M.  de  Beaumont  easily  identifies  the  fleur-de-Lis  as  the  symbol 
of  humidity,  fecundity,  strength,  and  kingly  power.  This  accessory  significance 
is  attendant  upon  and  concordant  with  the  world-Axis  conception.  At  times 
the  two  run  parallel,  and  again  they  converge  and  coalesce.  Thus  while  the 
Japanese  savant  Hirata,  commenting  on  the  collection  of  Ancient  Matters 
called  the  Koski^  represents  the  spear  of  Izanagi  and  Izanami  as  the  earth- Axis, 
he  also  gives  it  the  form  of  the  lingam.*  A  leading  incident  in  this  myth  is 
»  Pierret :  Diet,  199.  »  Hues's  Tractatus  de  Glolris  (Hakluyt  See.  1889),  p.  209. 

■  Pure  Shintd,  67. 


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MythsJ\  The  Fleur-de-Lis.  67 

the  bad  form  of  the  goddess  Izanami  in  "  proposing "  to  the  god  Izanagi. 
There  is  a  straight  parallel  in  the  remarkable  Vedic  dialogue-hynm  in  which 
Yam!  urges  cohabitation  upon  her  twin-brother  Yama. 

In  the  Nikangi  (Japan-Chronicle)  the  smith  Ama  tsu  Mara  forges  a  spear 
in  the  reign  of  the  second  mythical  Mikado  Suizei.  In  the  Kozhiki  (Ancient- 
Aflairs-Chronicle),  however,  this  smith  is  called  in  to  the  aid  of  the  eighty  or 
eight  hundred  myriads  of  deities  met  in  divine  assembly  in  the  bed  of  the 
tranquil  Heavens-river.  The  straight  translation  of  the  smith's  name  (which,  as 
Mr.  B.  H.  Chamberlain  has  pointed  out,*  is  slurred  over  by  every  native 
commentator)  is  phallus  of  heaven.  Mr.  Chamberlain  also  connects  this 
Mara  deity  of  heaven  with  the  deity  One-Eye  of  heaven  (Ama  no  Ma-hitotsu) ; 
and  we  shall  see  elsewhere  that  the  Eye  of  heaven  is  at  the  end  of  the  spear- 
axis.  Again  Hirata  Atsutane  in  his  Koshi  Den  (Ancient-Affairs  Conmientary) 
supposing  the  spear,  Nu-hoko,  to  have  been  of  iron  in  the  form  of  the  lingam 
(as  above),  interprets  the  syllable  nu  to  mean  tama^  which  signifies  both  jewel 
and  ball ;  the  rest  of  the  compound  word  being  hoko^  a  kind  of  lance  or  spear. 
Hephaistos  too  was  a  heavenly  smith,  and  made  the  Zodiac-shield  of  Achilles 
and  the  palace  all  of  brass  and  sprinkled  with  brilliant  stars  which  is  clearly  the 
firmament ;  and  in  his  character  as  the  male  principle  was  the  mate  of 
Aphrodite  hersel£  On  this  subject  Creuzer  made  the  following  observation  ; 
without,  of  course,  any  knowledge  of  the  Japanese  facts  : 

"  Hermes  is  the  divine  minister  par  excellence.  He  is  a  mediator-god  who 
puts  heaven  and  earth  in  communication,  and  thus  conduces  to  the  finishing  of 
the  work  of  universal  creation.  Such  ought  to  have  been  the  hidden  meaning 
of  the  mysterious  phallos  in  the  religions  of  Samothrace.^ 

The  Universe-axis  is  also  the  connector  of  heaven  and  earth. 

M.  de   Beaumont  pointed  out  that  the   fleur-de-Lis  crowns 

Osiris  and  Isis  as  being  engendered  from  the  Primeval  Ptah,      8  ^ 

the  most  ancient  of  the  Egyptian  gods,  the  Lord  of  Heaven,  the  king 
of  the  world.     It  might  be  added  that  it  is  also,  in  sceptre 
form,  in  the  glyphic  of  Ptah  himself,  the  head  of  the  gods, 
the  greatest  of  them  ;  whose  black  Apis  bull  bore  a  white 
triangle  on  its  forehead. 

Just  as  the  Chinese  Ti  (see  Index)  has  been  detected 
in  the  Scythian  Tivus,  so  M.  de  Beaumont  would  see  in 
the   fleur-de-/ts    the    Chinese    li,   a  governor.      I   transcribe  his 
remarks : 

U  en  Celtique  signifie  roi^  souvercdn  (page  83,  ii«  vol  du  Dictionncdre 
Celtiqtu),  U  en  Chinois  signifie  gouvemeur,  et  a  d(i  signifier  aussi  souvercdn^ 
puisque  lie  signifie  lot  tmp^riale  (page  83,  id,),  Llys  en  Celtique  veut  dire  salUy 
caur^  palais;  Gwer-Lys,  homme  de  cour.  En  Chinois  palL  K,  cour,  demeure 
du  souverain  (voy.  le  m^me  Dictionnaire).     Faisons  remarquer  que  la  manifere 

'  Ko'ji'ki^  or  Records  of  Ancient  Matters^  p.  55. 
'  Guignaut's  Creuzer,  ii,  298. 

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68  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 

dont  on  prononce  le  mot  Jifur  ae  its^  sans  faire  sentir  Vs  est  parfaitement 
d'accord  avec  Forthographie  Celtique  (p.  105). 

As  to  this  question  of  French  pronunciation  the  dropping  of 
the  s  may  be  only  an  archaism,  and  such  is  M.  Henry  Gaidoz's 
opinion.*  The  English  version  "  flowre-deluce,"  as  above  (p.  62) 
seems  to  show  that  the  s  was  pronounced.  Altogether,  we  must 
not  lay  more  stress  than  they  will  bear  on  these  speculations  of 
M.  de  Beaumont's.  It  might  however  be  added  that  the  two  Rivers 
(the  only  rivers  then  in  the  Universe)  which  Brdn's  ships  sailed 
over,  were  called  the  Lli  and  the  Archan.*  If  we  choose  to  make 
these  the  heavens-rivers,  we  have  a  water-lily,  a  lotus  (see  drawing 
on  p.  64)  for  the  fleur-de-Lli.  But  this  is  still  much  too  vague  for 
anything  but  a  mere  indication.  The  Irish  "Lochlann  like  the 
Welsh  Llychlyn  denoted  a  mysterious  country  in  the  lochs  or  the 
sea,"'  which  I  should  interpret  as  the  Universe-Ocean,  the  Waters. 
The  name  Llian  or  Lliaws  occurs  in  the  Welsh  Triads  ;*  and  the 
bursting  of  the  Llyn  Llion  or  Llivon's  Lake  caused  the  Welsh 
deluge.  *'  One  of  the  tarns  on  Snowdon,  several  of  which  have 
very  uncanny  associations,  is  called  Llyn  Llydaw  or  the  Lake  of 
Llydaw.  What  can  the  meaning  of  the  name  have  been  ?"  asks 
Prof.  Rhys.*  Llyr  is  also  a  name  in  the  Triads*  and  so  is  Lieu, 
whose  eagle-avatar  would  make  him  a  central  heavens-bird-god 

We  seem  to  detect  the  transition  of  the  sccptral  form  of  the  fleur-de-lis 
into  the  trident- weapon  in  the  following  instances  taken  from  Moor's  HindU 
Pantheon: — 

J,  held  by  the  four-handed  goddess  Palyanga  Bhavint 

(plate  40) 


2,  held  by  four-handed  Rudrdnt  (plate  40) 


3,  held  by  four-handed  D^vi  (goddess)  consort  of  Shiva 
(plate  38) «       «       . 


>  Letter  of  21  Janvier  1888.  '  Rhys*s  Hibbert  Lectures,  96. 

'  Ibid,  355.  <  Ibid.  180,  463,  583. 

*  Ibid,  168.  «  Ibid,  249,  425,  405. 


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Myths.] 


The  Fleur-de-Lis. 


69 


4,  held  in  the  uppermost  right  one  of  the  eight  hands  of 
Durgi  (plate  35) 


5,  these  three  are  held  in  the  hands 
of  "  very  ancient  brass  casts  "  of 
unidentified  deities  (plate  99)     . 


6,  held,  right  and  left,  in  two  of  the  four  hands  of 
D6vi  (plate  37) 


7,  held  by  six-handed  DurgA  "killing"  (?) 
MahishAsura  (plate  37).  [Moor  does  not 
seem  to  have  fully  apprehended  this  group, 
which  may  be  phallic]  . 


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70  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


6 —The  Trident. 

**  '^  I  ^HE  trisCila  or  trident  emblem  which  crowns  the  gateways 
JL  of  the  tope  at  Sanchi  may  be,  and  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
does,"  wrote  Fergusson,^  "  represent  Buddha  himself."  This  is  a 
recognition  of  the  supremacy  of  the  emblem  certainly ;  but  it 
cannot  be  admitted  that  a  triple  emblem  means  but  one,  unless 
that  one  be  a  three-in-one  ;  and  Fergusson  put  himself  a  little 
straighter  where  he  (p.  102)  recognised  the  Buddhist  trinity  of 
Buddha  Dharma  and  Sanga,  which  would  parallel  the  Chinese 
Tai-Ki  Yin  and  Yang. 

Here  is  a  typical  outline  of  the  top  of  the  "  Buddhist"  /trisAla. 
This  particular  example  (from  which  the 
minute    ornamentation   is    here    omitted') 
occurs  in  the  sculptures  of  Amravati.     It 
I  I  is  of  course  ab  initio  one  of  the  emblems 

v^^^^-"*^  ^"^^v— ^  of  a  triune  supreme  heavens-god.  Siva 
is  commonly  represented  "  holding  in  his  hand  a  trisdlla  or  trident 
called  Pin4ka."*  Colebrook^  pointed  out  that  TrisCila  was  a 
surname  of  the  24th  Tirthankara  of  the  Jainas ;  and  they  figured 
the  tree-of-knowledge  or  Kalpavriksha  as  a  three-branched  stem 
on  the  mitres  of  the  Tirthankaras  carved  in  the  Gwalior  caves.* 
This  connects  the  trisCila  with  the  Universe^tree. 

In  his  Migration  des  Symbolesf  M.  Goblet  d'Alviella  unluckily  adopts  the 
misapprehension  which  lumps  together  under  the  name  of  trisiila  the  trisOla 
or  trident  itself  and  the  winged  wheel  (see  his  pages  294  to  324) ;  and  his 
conclusion  is  (p.  323)  that  "  la  signification  propre  du  tri^ula  reste  done  k  T^tat 
conjectural"  He  admits  however  one  of  my  contentions  in  these  words — "  the 
trisiila  might  as  well  figure  in  the  hands  of  HadSs  or  Poseidon,"  as  among  the 
attributes  of  Siva.  Of  course  the  straight  and  only  strict  meaning  of  tri-sOla 
is  threepointed-pal  or  spear.  He  points  out  how  it  appears  on  sword- 
scabbards  [which  would  be  symbolic  of  a  divine  weapon] ;  on  banner  poles 
[see  my  remarks  on  battle-standards  at  p.  55] ;  on  the  back  of  the  elephant ; 
above  the  throne  of  Buddha  at  Barhut ;  on  Buddha's  footprint  [over  the  winged 
wheel] ;  on  an  altar  where  it  is  worshipped  ;  on  a  pillar  enclosed  in  a  stupa  ; 
and  as  crowning  staircases  [which  must  be  connected   with  the  heavens- 

*  If  id.  Arch,  p.  97.  *  Dowson's  Diet  299.  »  As,  Researches  (1809)  vii,  306. 

*  A.  Rivelt-Caroac  in  Proceedgs.  As.  Soc.  Bengal  xliv. 

*  Paris,  Leroux,  1891. 


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AfytAs.] 


The  Trident. 


71 


ladder].     It  also  opens  and  closes  cave-inscriptions,  and  forms  earrings  and 
neck-pendants  [which  are  simply  amulets]. 

That  the  ccnnpound  symbol  consists  of  the  trident  and  wheel  was  recognised 
by  M.  £.  S^nart  in  his  Esscd  sur  la  Ugende  du  Botuidha^  and  the  rational 
simplicity  of  this  explanation  is  partly  admitted  by  M.  Goblet  (pp.  300,  301), 
who  also  points  to  £ug.  Bumouf  s*  description  of  Buddha's  head  of  hair  as  a 
ball  topped  in  Ceylon  by  a  sort  of  trident,  while  in  Java'  the  trident  surmounts 
the  "  rosette  "  [which  I  endeavour  to  identify  with  the  wheel].  Mr.  E.  Thomas* 
also  has  detected  in  the  compound  symbol  [misnamed  after  the  tris{ila  which  is 
only  one  of  its  components]  the  emblem  of  Dharma  the  Law  ;  and  Mr.  Pincott 
saw  in  it  the  Dharma-chakra  or  wheel-of-the-Law.«  But  this  compound  symbol 
is,  as  I  have  stated  above,  the  winged  sphere  or  wheel  applied  on  to  th6 
trident  or  trisdla  proper,  the  stem  of  which  is  even  represented  as  a  pillar  or 
post  fixed  in  its  pediment  This  is  completely  accordant  with  the  theories 
urged  in  this  Inquiry^  which  equate  the  spear-handle  with  the  cosmic  pillar. 
But  we  are  now  anticipating  portion  of  the  section  on  "The  Winged 
Sphere,"  and  it  shall  therefore  only  be  added  here  that  Brugsch  has  pointed 
out  in  the  text  of  an  Edfu  inscription  that  Horus,  when  transformed  into  the 
winged  sphere  to  combat  the  armies  of  Set,  has  a  three-pointed  spear  for  his 
weapon.*  The  tris^ila  is  seen  above  the  ring  (or  wheel-tire  ?  but  certainly  not 
"  the  sun  ")  on  a  carving  at  Budh  GayA'and,  what  is  stranger  still,  on  an  archaic 
Grecian  amphora,"  where  it  seems  to  usurp  the  place  of  the  biform  caduceus. 
These  latter  references  are  also  taken  from  M.  Goblet's  new  and  valuable  book, 
which  is  hereby  again  recommended  to 'students  in  symbology. 


[The  ancient  trident- weapons  of  India  the  pindka  or  trisUla  are  in  great 

numbers  and  of  different  forms.     Mr.   Rijendralila  Mitra  gives  the  three 

following  forms  in  his  Indo-Aryans  (i,  313). 

It  is  impossible   to  blink  the  likeness  to 

the  fieur-de-Lis  in  two  out  of  the  three  ; 

and  my  theory,  in  accordance  with  what 

has  already  been  said   about  that  emblem, 

would  be  that  if  they  really  were  weapons, 

they  were  also  insignia  of  conmiand.     "  One, 

of  a  short  mace-like  form  mounted  with  three 

prongs  and  a  small  axe»blade,  is  peculiar." 

The  sceptre-like  appear- 
ance of  this  "weapon,"  and  the  presence  ot  the 
fieur-de-Lis,  are  alike  for  me  unmistakeable. 


>  Journal  AHoHque  1875,  p.  184.  *  Lotus  de  la  Bonne  Loi^  539, 

*  BorO'Botdoer  op  het  Hkmdjava,  Leiden,  1873,  plate  cdxxx,  fig.  lOO. 
^  Numismat,  Chron,  iv  (new  series)  282. 

*  751^  Tri-ratna  in  Jour.  R.A.S.  xix  (new  series)  242. 

*  Migration  des  Symboles,  314.        '  Numismat.  Chron.  xx  (new  series)  pi.  ii,  fig.  37. 
"  Elittdes  Mon.  Ciramogr.  (1868),  iii,  pi.  91. 


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72  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [A. 


xis 


Huc>  saw  at  Angti,  near  the  Chinese  frontier  of  Tibet,  soldiers  carrying 
tridents  for  weapons.  Tridents,  pikes,  matchlocks  and  old  carbines  form  the 
arms  of  the  Chinese  "  braves  "  in  South  Yunnan  ;  to  these  are  added  at  times 
huge  horse-pistols  and  a  kind  of  hammer  or  axe.*] 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  the  trident  may  be  men- 
tioned the  Sanko,  or  Three-Ancients  (?)  which  is  a  small  brass 
instrument  with  three  prongs  at  each  end,  held  when  praying 
by  the  priests  of  I  know  not  which  particular  Japanese  Buddhist 
sect.*  Mr.  W.  G.  Aston  informs  me  there  are  specimens  oT  the 
sanko  in  the  British  Museum,  but  I  have  missed  examining  them. 
It  is  manifestly  like  what  M.  Goblet  d'Alviella*  calls  the  dordj 
of  the  "lamas  and  bonzes,"  and  it  is  found  in  the  Sanchi 
sculptures.  This  also  recalls  the  Pars!  baresma.  It  is  well- 
known  also  that  the  Indian  temples  of  Siva  are  marked  by  a 
trisCila. 

In  fact  the  mind  should  be  thoroughly  cleared  of  the  fixed 
idea  that  the  trident  is  the  exclusive  personal  property  of  either 
Neptune  or  Poseidon. 

"  We  passed  a  temple,"  writes  Mr.  Consul  Bourne,*  "  containing  a  horrid 
image  seated  on  a  white  ox,  with  a  sash  composed  of  human  heads  round  its 
breast,  and  armed  with  a  trident  and  bell.  It  had  six  arms  covered  with 
snakes,  and  three  faces,  with  the  usual  scar  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead 
replaced  by  an  Eye.  An  intelligent  native  told  us  it  was  the  local  god." 
I  draw  attention  here  not  only  to  the  trident  but  to  the  bell, 
and  also  to  the  Eye  and  to  the  three  faces  and  six  arms  which 
denote  a  triad  of  deities  in  one.  All  these  points  are  dwelt  on 
again  and  again  in  the  present  Inquiry  ;  and  here  we  find  them  all 
combined  on  the  image  of  a  "local"  god  in  an  out-of-the-way 
comer  of  South  West  China,  at  Ssu-mao-T*ing,  among  the  Pai-i 
Shans,  on  9th  January.  1886.  I  cannot  help  thinking  this  a  little 
extraordinary. 

The  trident  survives  otherwise  in  the  same  locality  among  the  Chinese 
braves.  To  an  adverse  criticism  of  the  arm  they  carried  (writes  Mr.  Bourne) — 
the  ch^a  or  trident,  a  3-pronged  fork  stuck  on  the  end  of  a  6-foot  pole — one  of 
them  objected  emphatically ;  and  continued  much  as  follows  :  "  Those  old 
barbarians  [the  Shans  and  Lolos]  are  very  tough  ;  sword  wo*n*t  cut  nor  bullet 
pierce  them  ;  what  you  do  is  to  tie  the  man  up  ;  then  you  lay  his  back  on  a  flat 
stone,  and  run  this  trident  into  him.     If  one  man  can't  get  it  through  him,  two 

'  Travels  (Hazlitt's  translation)  ii,  286. 

*  A.  R.  Colquhoun*s  Across  Chrysi^  li,  53,  57. 

*  Hepburn's  Dictionary ^  sub  voce. 
^  Migr,  des  SymboleSy  126. 

*  Journey  in  South  West  China,     Parly.  Paper  C.  5371  (1888),  p.  19. 


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Myths.']  The   Trident.  73 

or  three  can  ;  therefore  the  old  barbarians  fear  the  trident,  and  it  is  indispen- 
sable to  us  who  guard  the  frontier"  (p.  21).  If  one  were  to  allow  one's  imagina- 
tion to  run  away,  here  is  a  parallel  naturalistic  to  grotesqueness  of  the 
treatment  meted  out  with  his  A(nn\  by  Kronos  to  Ouranos. 

A  curious  trident,  with  one  prong  turned  back,  is  figured  in  the  modem 
imperial  Chinese  edition 
of  the  Chow  Uy  the  cere- 
monial repertory  of  the  <;3 
Chow  dynasty  3,000  years 
ago.  The  prong  called  the  blade  is  knife-hedged  on  the  outer  side,  and  is 
three-fourths  of  a  (Chinese)  foot  long  ;  the  stabber  is  longer  and  thicker,  and 
the  recurved  prong  is  the  strongest  of  the  three.*  (See  also  "  The  Weapons 
of  the  Gods.") 

On  pi.  68  have  been  given  some  transitional  examples  con- 
necting the  fleur-de-lis  sceptre  with  the  trident.  The  following, 
which  complete  the  series  and  the  connection,  seem  more  decidedly 
tridential.  They  are  all  from  Moor's  HindA  Pantheon,  I  trust 
that  I  am  not  out-tiring  the  reader ;  but  I  know  not  of  any  better 
aid  to  the  comparative  study  of  symbolism  than  the  grouping  of 
its  forms  in  this  manner : 

I.  held  by  four-handed  Kandeh  Rao  {ix.  the  great- 
god  Mah^d^va)  plate  23       , 


2.  held  by  four-handed  Bhairava,  the  destroying 
Shiva  (plate  24) 


3.  held  by  ten-handed  ape-headed  Hanuman,  the 
Ape-man-god  (plate  93)    .        .    '    . 


4.  held  by  a  four-armed  Shiva  (plate  13) 


*  Biot:  Le  Tcheou-Li,  185 1,  ii,  495. 


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74 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


\Axis 


5.  held  by  four-armed  five-faced  Mah4d6va- 
Panchamukh!  (plate  15).  One  of  these  five 
heads  is  placed  above  the  other  four  which 
face  the  cardinal  points,  thus  giving  us  the 
Chinese  view  of  the  five  quarters  (see  Index). 


held  by  four-handed  elephant-headed  Gantea 
(plate  45).  It  is  also  found  in  two  of  the  four 
hands  of  Indra  seated  as  MahAt  on  the  three- 
trunked  elephant  of  the  Universe.  The  re- 
curving shows  it  to  be  the  ankus  goad  of  the 
Mahdt  which,  used  as  a  shepherd's  crook  over 
the  setting-on  of  the  elephant's  ear,  makes  him 
lie  down. 


7,  held   in   left   hand  of  D6v!  (goddess) 

consort  of  Shiva  (plate  41).    This  form 
seems  highly  archaic     .... 

8.  sort  of  flesh-fork  held    downwards  by 

Dui^i  slaying  Mahishdsura  (plate  34). 


¥ 


iir 


These  three  tridential  forehead  sect- 
marks  of  Vishnu-worshippers  are  also 
from  Moor  (plate  2). 

It  is  impossible  to  quit  the  trident-symbols  without  any  mention 
of  the  bidenty  which  we  must  intimately  connect  with  the  dual 
conception  of  the  supreme  deity.  Here  \  (  \  f  I  li  |  III 
are  four  other  sect-marks  of  Vishnli-  \j  \J  V*/  v-/ 
worshippers  (Moor,  plate  2),  of  which  two  seem  to  indicate 
the  transition  to  the  triune  sect-marks  just  given.  A  bident 
sceptre  or  weapon  as  held  by  Vishnu  (plate  10)  is  added. 
The  bident  (S/iccXXa,  bidens)  and  the  horn  of  plenty  were 
attributes  of  Plout6n  or  Plouteus,  the  source  of  riches.* 

'  F.  Lenonnant  in  Saglio,  Dici,  d€s  Antiq.  i,  632. 


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Mytks^  The  Trident.  75 

Mr.  Aston  informs  me  he  has  seen  the  trident  carried  before  a 
Korean  ambassador  in  Japan  ;  and  he  rather  thinks  the  trident  was 
formerly  not  uncommon  in  Japan  itself. 

The  GAi-Bolga  or  barbed  weapon  of  the  Irish  Ciichulainn, 
which  he  wields  from  below  or  from  above,  and  with  his  feet  or 
with  his  hands/  seems  to  be  an  Axis-Trident ;  probably  that 
double  trident,  North  and  South,  •^— ^  which  archeologists  call 
"the  thunderbolt" 

When  the  Satyr  attempts  violence  upon  Amum6n6,  daughter 
of  Danaiis  and  Elephantis,  Poseidon  throws  his  trident  at  him,  and, 
missing  the  Satyr,  implants  the  weapon  in  a  neighbouring  rock 
whence  issue  three  water-jets  (a  Moses-miracle)  that  become  the 
Lernian  fountain.* 

The  (Phoenician  colonial)  "  caduceus  "  of  Carthage  9  is  a  bident 

on  the  sphere  (see  "  The  Rod  ")  ;  or  rather,  taking  in  the  stem,  a 
dvistXdi  (to  manufacture  a  word  for  comparison  with  trisiila) 
compounded  with  a  sphere.  Remember  siila  =  spear  or  pal ;  the 
dvis<x\9i  is  thus  a  twy-pointed  spear.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
whatever,  from  the  monuments,  that  the  resemblance  of  the 
trist^la  to  this  "  dvisOla "  or  caduceus  is  (as  this  Inquiry  seeks  to 
expound  matters)  due  to  the  one  being  a  symbol  of  divine  duality, 
the  other  of  a  divine  triad.  M.  Goblet  d'Alviella,  in  contrasting  the 
two,  adds  on  in  each  case*  the  O  which  seems  to  me  to  indicate 
the  sphere,  orb,  or  wheel  ;^  and  in  the  case  of  two  trisiilas  he  addii 
on  the  sidewings  of  the  wheel  or  ring  ;  but  he  also  duly  records* 
how  M.  Ch.  Lenormant  and  the  baron  de  Witte  recognised 
the  idea  of  sexual  duality,  of  an  HermAphrodit^  in  a  single 
divine  entity,,  as  being  conveyed  by  the  caduceus.  For  me, 
the  duality,  sexual  or  other,  is  indicated  in  the  simplest  way  by 
the  dual  termination  of  the  stem,  just  as  the  triple  end  indicates 
a  triad. 

Caduceum  was  a  herald's  staff,  but  its  conjectural  formation 
"  quasi  from  cSducus,  stick  oi  fallen  wood,"*  is  most  unsatisfying. 
Caduceus  being  (like  the  Greek  icrjpvKeio^)  adjectival,  baculus  or 
baculum  was  supposed  to  be  understood.  Bac-ulum  is  compared 
with  /SaK-rpov  staff  and  /Sa/c-ny?  strong,  which  are  both  (by  an 
unconvincing  etymology)  brought  from  fiau/a>  I  walk.     It  seems  to 

*  Rhys's  Jlid.  Lects.  441,  481.  «  Hygin.  Fob.  169. 

•  Mi^,  des  SymboieSf  304,  316.  *  Wharton's  Eiyma  Latina. 


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1^  The  Night  of  the  Goas.  [Axis 

} ' 

me  that  we  must  not  here  wilfully  shut  our  eyes  to  the  obvious 
BdK'Xo^,  nor  to  the  fact  that  Bactria  holds  the  same  relation  to 
fid/erpov  and  fia/crrjpia  (staff  of  office,  prop)  that  Doria  does  to 
Sopv  shaft.  We  thus  unfold  an  important  connection  between  the 
great,  the  supreme,  god  Bacchus  and  the  stability  of  the  axis-Shaft, 
in  which  he  accords  with  Ptah  and  the  tat 

**  Odinn  died  in  his  bed  in  Sweden,"  says  the  Inglinga  saga, 
"  and  when  he  was  near  his  death  he  made  himself  be  marked  with 
the  point  of  a  spear,  and  said  he  was  going  to  Godheim." 

[The  twelve  ^odes  or  diar  or  drotnar  of  Odinn  were  obviously  cognate  to  our 
gvdf  as  the  name  of  a  deity.  They  (or  the  priests  who  represented  them) 
directed  sacrifices  and  judged  the  people,  and  all  the  people  served  and 
obeyed  them.] 

**  Niord  died  on  the  bed  of  sickness,  and  before  he  died  made 
himself  be  marked  for  Odinn  with  the  spear-point."* 

There  is  a  useful  illustration  of  Athenaia  and  Poseidon  (from  a  vase  in  the 
Biblioth^que  Nationale)  given  in  Harrison  and  VerralPs  manual  on  the 
Mythology  and  Mdhuments  of  Ancient  Athens.*  The  spear  and  trident  are 
there  unmistakeably  important 

The  Finnish  Hephaistos,  Ilmarinen,  forges  for  his  brother 
Wainamoinen,  in  the  46th  rune  of  the  Ka/eva/a,  a  spear  of 
wondrous  beauty  out  of  magic  metals,  and  a  triple  pointed  lancet 
with  a  copper  handle,  for  fighting  the  great  bear  Otso  of  the  North- 
land*   This  is  a  clear  trident 

It  would  however  be  satisfactory  if,  while  upon  this  subject, 
the  trident  of  Neptune  could  in  any  sufficient  way  be  accounted  for 
as  being  connected  with  that  of  Assur  and  that  of  Saturn,  and 
therefore,  as  I  venture  to  maintain,  with  the  Polar  deity.  The  most 
ancient  Cretan  coins  show  the  Phoenician  god  T4n  (translated 
Poseidon  by  Philo  of  Byblos)  with  a  fish-tail,  that  is  as  a  fish-god, 
and  holding  a  Neptune  s  trident  The  name  of  this  god  is  found, 
too,  in  composition  in  the  Cretan  Itanos,  from  i-t&n,  isle  of  T&n. 
Now  Tin  was  son  of  Y4m,  son  of  Ba'al,  son  of  II  (or  Kronos).* 
Did  the  trident  thus  descend  from  Kronos  or  Saturn  to  the  sea- 
god  Poseidon  or  Neptune  ?  That  Kronos  was  prominent  in  the 
worship  of  Crete  is  abundantly  clear  from  the  fact  of  human 
sacrifices  having  been  there,  as  in  Rhodes,  offered  to  him.* 

^  ffeimskringla  (Laing  and  Anderson)  1889,  i,  pp.  281,  282,  267,  270. 
^  Macmillan,  1890,  p.  xxviL 

*  Crawford's  Kalevala,  pp.  661,  662. 

*  F.  Lenonnant :  Orig,  de  tHisU  ii,  544,  545. 

*  Porphyry:  De Absi,  ii,  197,  202. 


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Myths.']  The  Trident,  77 

Again,  in  the  Satapatha-brdhmana  a  fish  appears  to  Manu,  is  adored  by 
him,  and  tows  Manu's  ship  during  the  deluge  over  the  Mountain  of  the  North, 
Manu  came  down  as  the  waters  receded,  and  that  is  what  is  called  the  descent 
of  Manu  on  the  Mountain  of  the  North.'  This  fish-god  becomes  Brihmi  in 
the  Mahibhdrata,  and  Vishnu  in  the  Purdnas  (Matsyavatara). 
But  in  the  Chaldean  account  of  the  deluge,  the  fish's  part  is 
taken  by  the  god  £)a  (also  qualified  as  Shalman,  that  is  Saver)  who 
is  essentially  the  Assyrio-Babylonian  icthyomorphic  god.*  Now, 
that  £a  and  Kronos  are  parallels  admits  of  little  doubt,*  for  the 
Greeks  translated  £a  by  Kronos,  as  they  did  Bel  by  Zeus.  And 
not  alone  is  fea  spoken  of  on  the  Chaldean  tablets  as  the  *'  Lord 
with  the  clear-seeing  Eye,"  but  also  as  "the  motionless  Lord"* 
— ^which  seem  to  me  to  be  epithets  peculiar  to  the  polar  divinity. 

Furthermore,  fea  is  the  male  of  one  of  the  primitive  pairs  that  issue  from 
the  primordial  humidity  which  affords  the  farthest-back  connection  possible  in 
mythological  time  with  an  Ocean  parentage  and  habitat. 

It  is  not  likely  now  that  anything  can  ever  be  safely  based  upon  the  lost 
Black  Stone  of  Susa,  but  that  clearly,  in  General  Monteith's  drawing,* 
exhibits  a  trident  in  a  prominent  position. 

Poseiddn  says  in  the  Iliad  (xv) :  three  brethren  are  we  and  sons  of  Kronos, 
whom  Rhea  bare :  Zeus  and  myself,  and  Hades  is  the  third,  the  ruler  of  the 
folk  in  the  underworld.  [This  seems  to  give  Poseidon  the  earth  ;  Zeus  keeping 
the  heavens.] 

Poseid6n  in  the  Orphic  hymn  to  Equity  is  called  the  marine  Zeus : 
ir($»Tio£  f  2miX€0£  Zcvff ;  and  in  the  explanation  of  his  trident  given  by  Olympiodorus 
(on  the  Gorgias),  Zeus  is  called  celestial,  Plout6n  terrestrial,  and  Poseid6n  of  a 
nature  between  these.  This  in  fact  gives  us  what  Produs  (in  TheoL  Plat^  367) 
also  says  upon  the  subject  Zeus  holds  a  sceptre  because  of  his  ruling  judicia  1 
powers  ;  and  Poseid6n  has  a  trident  because  of  his  middle  situation.^  If  this 
means  anything  at  all  it  must  mean  that  he  is  the  middle  prong  of  the  trident 
representing  a  three-fold  Zeus,  a  triad  of  supreme  gods,  and  that  that  is  why 
he  holds  the  emblem. 

Homer  (//.  xiv)  makes  Hera  say  to  Aphrodite :  "  I  am  going 
to  the  limits  of  the  earth,  and  Okeanos  father  of  the  gods,  and 
mother  T^thys  who  reared  me  duly  and  nurtured  me  in  their  halls, 
when  far-seeing  Zeus  imprisoned  Kronos  beneath  the  earth  and 
the  unvintaged  sea,"  Here  are  recognitions  of  the  springing 
even  of  the  gods  from  moisture,  and  of  the  infernal  position  of  the 
fallen  Kronos. 

Munter*  recognised  a  relation  between  Poseid6n  and  6genos, 

*  Prof.  Max  Miiller :  Ski,  Lit,  p.  425.     Muir :  Ski,  Texts,  ii,  324. 
»  Orig.  de  VHist.  i,  422  ;  387,  564  ;  505,  393. 

*  Walpole*s  Tnwels  in  Turkey,  ii,  426. 

*  Taylor's  Pans,  iii,  254,  268,  269  (notes).  *  Relig,  der  Korthager,  p.  57. 


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73  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

the  archaic  god-name  (indicated  by  Suidas)  from  which  Ckeanos 
seems  to  have  come.  Poseiddn,  says  K.  O.  Miiller,  seems  clearly 
connected  with  pontos  pontios  potos  potamos,  used  for  sea  rivers 
and  waters  generally.  The  radical  weakness  of  all  the  theories  of 
Neptunus  (Poseidon)  and  his  trident  seems  to  lie  in  the  total 
Ignoring  in  this  connection  of  the  Universe-ocean,  and  the  limiting 
of  the  mythologist's  purview  to  some  earthly  pond  like  the 
MediTerranean  sea. 

The  horses  of  Poseidon  cannot  be  disconnected  from  the  legend 
in  the  Iliad  (xxiii,  346)  of  his  changing  into  a  horse,  while  Demeter 
became  a  mare.  In  those  forms  they  begat  the  horse  Aridn. 
Poseidon's  position  as  a  supreme  central  deity  of  the  first  rank  is 
here  evident  in  his  being  mated  with  Demeter. 

Mr.  Gladstone  in  his  Homerology,^  points  out  that 
"  Poseidon   is    the  god   who  may  specially  be   called  the  god  of  horses  in 
Homer ;  and  the  relation  is  one  which  it  is  quite  idle  to  refer  to  the  metaphorical 
relation  between  the  foam  of  waves  and  the  mane  of  the  animal,  or  between  the 
ship  and  his  [the  horse's]  uses  on  land." 

This  seems  to  me  to  be  one  more  element  in  the  proof  of 
Poseidon's  being  originally  a  central  supernal  god,  the  deity  of  the 
Universe- ocean — not  merely  of  terrestrial  seas — ^the  god  of  mois- 
ture, the  ruler  of  Water,  the  earliest  co-productor  (with  heat)  of 
life,  the  deity  of  the  Watery  Sphere  surrounding  the  Universe, 
which  was  borne  along  in  the  general  revolution  by  the  horses  of 
Poseidon.    Virgfil  calls  Neptunus  "  Satumius  domitor  maris  "  {jEn. 

If  the  word  na/fdt,  water,  does  indeed  turn  out  to  be  of  kin 
with  Neptunus,  as  some  German  scholars  theorise,  it  would  be  a 
help  to  my  arguments,  when  the  central  idea  of  Ap4m-napllt  is 
kept  in  mind.  And  again,  if  the  Oldlrish  triatA  sea  "helps  to 
explain  the  Greek  Triton,  the  Sanskrit  trita,  and  the  Zend  thrita'** 
I  think  we  must  go  a  little  farther  and  attach  the  whole  of  these, 
as  well  as  the  trident,  to  the  central  triad  conception. 

Dr.  Schrader  says  that  Sanskrit  nipit,  niptar  =  i,  grandson  ;  2,  son ;  3, 
descendant  in  general  Avestan  napdt  =  grandson.  Vedic  apim  napit  =  off- 
spring of  water,  cannot  =  Neptunus,  for  napAt  has  nought  to  do  with  water  ;" 
unless  indeed  (as  I  shall  add)  Neptunus  =  simply  "son  of"  (god).  Does 
-Unus  in  Nept-unus,  Port-unus,  and  so  on,  mean  simply  One  ? 

'  Contemp,  Rrj,  xxvii,  811  (1876). 

*  Dr.  I.  Taylor's  Orig,  of  the  Aryans^  p.  306  ;  Ret,  Thought  and  Life  in  India^  i,  346. 

*  Jevons's  Schrader's  Prehist.  Antiq,  of  Aryans  (1890),  pp.  374,  412 


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My^As.]  The  Trident.  79 

This  ordinary  term  of  apdm  napdt  appears  as  iptya  (also  son  of  the  waters) 
in  Trita  Aptya*  or  Traitana,  the  Firegod,  which  gives  some  sort  of  a  connection 
of  napit  with  Neptunus  through  Trit6n. 

Th^b^  is  called  Tritdnian  in  the  ArganautikSn  (iv,  260).  There 
is  also  the  Tritdnian  river  of  seven  streams  (iv,  269).  When 
Ath6n6  sprang  in  bright  armour  from  her  father's  head  she  wais 
washed  at  the  waters  of  Tritdn  (iv,  131 1).  From  a  rock  near  the 
lake  Tritdnis  (iv,  J444),  when  kicked  by  a  giant,  instantly  gushes 
forth  a  spring  (another  Moses-miracle).  Tritdn  (iv,  1552)  bestows 
the  clod  of  earth  which  makes  the  island  Kallistd  (alias  the  Earth). 
Tritdn  is  here  unmistakeably  a  water-god,  and  his  name  indicates 
the  trident  which  Poseidon  carries. 

And  have  not  the  place  and  functions  of  Poseidon  at  long  last  descended 
to  the  Eastern  St  Nicholas,  many  of  whose  churches  replace  the  former 
sanctuaries  of  the  Greek  god ;  the  Greek  sailors  praying  to  the  Saint  in  tempests 
or  for  a  fair  wind,  just  as  their  progenitors  did  to  the  sea-deity. 

Parme8tetor*8  Zend  Avesfa^  i,  Ixiiu 


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So  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [A. 


xts 


7. — The  Ao/)v  and  ""Afymj  of  Kronos. 

WITH  Izanagi's  spear  when  combined  with  the  triple  emblem 
must,  I  would  further  suggest,  be  classed  also  the  Sopv  and 
the  "ApTTTf  of  Kronos.  According  to  Hesiod,  the  weapon  of 
Kronos  was  a  scythe  of  astonishing  size,  made  of  a  shining 
diamond  ;  and  it  was  made  for  the  god  by  his  mother  Tij  the 
Earth.  Sanchoniathon  said  that  Kronos  caused  to  be  made  a  ipirrj 
and  a  Sopv  of  iron.  It  is  welUcnown  that  the  Greek  word  for 
diamond  ahdfia^  really  means  adamant,  that  which  is  indestructible  ; 
and  such  I  suggest — and  not  diamond — maybe  its  real  significance 
as  the  material  of  the  weapon  of  Kronos. 

The  first  mention  of  dddfias  is  said  to  be  in  Hesiod* ;  and  then  and  thence- 
forward, in  the  sense  of  aii  everlasting  substance  which  was  a  trade  secret  with 
the  gods,  it  remained  confined  to  theological  poetry.  Of  it  were  made  the 
helmet  of  H6rakl6s,>  the  dpmf  of  Kronos,*  the  chains  of  Prometheus,*  and  the 
plough  of  Aifit^s.*  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  term  was  applied  to  the 
natural  magnet,  although  Pliny*  gave  the  adamas  an  antimagnetic  virtue. 
I  do  not  desire  to  press  too  hard  the  other  meaning,  loadstone ; 
though  it  is  tempting  and  (especially  in  connection  with  the  iron, 
alBrfpo^y  which  Philo-Sanchoniathon  reported  as  the  material)  would 
come  to  the  support  of  the  theory  mentioned  farther  on  as  to 
natural  magnets.  It  must  be  added  that  the  original  meaning 
of  the  Japanese  word  for  the  spear  material,  which  is  rendered 
"  jewel,"  is  also  doubtful. 

The  ipTTTf  of  Kronos,  generally  rendered  scythe  or  sickle, 
whether  in  translations  or  in  works  of  art  representing  the  gojl, 
has  often  been  presumed  to  have  given  the  astronomical  sign  of 
the  planet  Saturn,  1^ . 

The  apirrj  is  I  think  susceptible  of  another  very  archaic 
interpretation.  Our  harpoon  comes  from  the  same  root,  and  the 
meaning  of  an  agricultural  instrument  may  be  comparatively 
modem  :  it  would  not  suit  a  nomad  people  for  example.  This  line 
of  thought  might  give  us  something  resembling  the  trident  which 
is  found  as  the  emblem  of  Saturn  on  Roman  medals,  and  thus  the 
epithet  sharp-toothed  Kapxctpiihov^^  which  describes  the  object  in 

>  SctUum  Here,  lyj.  >  Id.  Theogon,  i6l,  i88.  «  ^schylus,  Prom,  6 

*  Pindar,  lyth,  iv,  397 ;  Argonaut,  iii,  1285,  1325.  »  Hist,  Nat,  xxxvii,  61. 


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Myths.']  The  Aopv  and  ^pirq  of  Kronos.  8i 

Hesiod,  would  present  no  difficulty.  What  I  suggest  is  that  the 
cifyirq  must  have  been  the  head  of  the  hopv  or  spear,  and  that  the 
triple  point  of  the  head  would  thus  connect  it  with  the  "  fleur-de- 
Lis,"  the  emblem  of  the  triad,  at  the  Northern  point  of  the  Universe- 
Axis. 

Pausanias  (vii,  23)  gives  us  the  scythe  or  sickle  idea  in  the  legend  about 
Kronos  throwing  the  instrument  with  which  he  mutilated  Ouranos  into  the 
sea  from  a  promontory  named  Drepanon  near  the  mouth ,  of  the  river 
Bolinaios.     But  this  legend  seems  to  contain  a  mere  nominis  umbra. 

The  ithyphallic  statues  of  gardens  had  a  wooden  scythe  or  reapinghook 
which  Columella  joked  at  as  a  scarethief— "  praedoni  falce  minetur."*  It  is 
also  mentioned  in  the  Priapeiuy  xxix — "  falce  minax  ; "  and  there  was  also  a 
long  overtopping  pole  behind  the  figure,  which  was  used  to  hang  a  scare- 
crow on,  apparently ;  for  Horace  says  : 

Ast  importunas  volucres  in  vertice  arundo 
Terret  fixa  {Sat  viii,  6). 

Hermfis  beheaded  Argos  with  a  harp^,  which  is  shown  as  a 
sickle  on  a  gem  of  green  jasper.*  According  to  one  account, 
Hermes  first  put  Argos  to  sleep  with  the  sound  of  his  flute,  and 
then  cut  off  his  head  with  the  harp^  f  by  another  report  he  simply 
killed  him  with  a  blow  of  a  stone.  Hermes  also  gave  i  crseus  an 
adamantine  harp^  to  kill  Medousa.* 

Dr.  O.  Schrader  equates  the  "sickle-shaped  knife"  for  cutting  com, 
Spin;,  with  the  Old-Slavonic  sriipu  ;  and  Mr.  Wharton  adds  Old- Latin  sarpo 
to  prune,  and  OHGsarf  sharp. 

Apollodorus  preserved  a  myth  which  makes  the  serpent  Typhon 
despoil  Zeus  of  his  thunder,  and  also  of  the  harp^  which  had  been 
before  him  the  weapon  of  his  father  Kronos* ;  another  myth  makes 
Zeus  fight  and  lop  Typhon  with  the  harp^.  The  Thracian 
gladiators  used  a  harp^  in  the  public  games. 

*  The  hdpv  spear  or  dart  is  constant  in  the  myth  of  Prokris  and 
Kephalos  (to  which  we  must  not  turn  aside),  and  the  custom  of 
planting  a  spear  in  the  grave  at  a  funeral  {iirev&fKetv  Bopv)  is  even 
connected  with  this  myth.  "  Some  say  that  it  was  EreChtheus 
who  made  the  spear  be  driven  into  the  grave."*  But  we  can 
afford  a  smile  at  these  conjectures,  when  we  find  the  similar 
custom,  with  poles,  among  the  Tartars  (see  Index). 

The  Thracians,  wrote  Clemens  Alexandrinus',  first  invented 
what  is  called  a  &pirr) — it  is  a  curved  sword. 

'  De  cultu  hortorum,  x.  *  Tassie-Raspe,  Catalogue  of  gems  ^  1182. 

'  Ovid,  Met,  i,  671,  721.  *  ApoU.  Bibl,  ii,  3,  2  ;  ii,  4,  2,  8. 

»  BibL  i,  6,  3,  8. 
•  Istros,  Frag,  19  (Didot  i,  420).  '  Stromata^  i,  ch.  16. 

F. 


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^2  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  \Avis 

Here  are  given  illustrations  of : 


"The  mutilation  harp^  of  Kronos  or  of  Saturn,"  from 
Winckelmann,  Pierres  gravies  de  Stosch^  p.  24,  No.  5 ; 
Schlichtegroll,  ibid,  xv. 

"  The  harp^  of  an  antique  form  (ensis  falcatus)  and  the  globe  ; "  from 
^^        an  Etruscan  scarabeus.    Tassie,  Catalogue^  pi.  xiv,  No.  758  :  BSttiger, 
U       Kunstmythologiey  i,  tab.  i,  4.    This  is  the  sign  of  the  planet  Saturn  ? 
Harp6  in  a  bas-relief  of  the  quondam  Mus^e  royale  ff^^ 

of  Paris.    Millin,  Monum,  Antiq,  inedit,   i,   pL  23,     It  IJ      I 

looks  somewhat    like  the  Egyptian  reaping-hook,  the  ^^     J 

ma     5^,  which  we  now  know  (thanks  to  Mr.   Flinders   '  ^"'^"^ 

Petrie)  to  have  been  originally  a  sickle  made  of  the  jawbone  of  an  animal, 
with  the  teeth  left  in. 

One  of  the  leading  myths  which  we  have  not  hitherto  been  able 
to  explain  to  ourselves  is  the  sowing  of  the  serpent's  teeth  by 
Kadmos  son  of  AgEnor.  Apollonios  of  Rhodes  said^  that  there- 
after he  "  founded  a  race  of  earthborn  r^air)^€vd^  men  from  the 
remnant  left  after  the  harvesting  of  Ar^s'  spear  ;  "*  which  is  not 
self-explanatory.  Can  it  refer  to  teeth  having  been  archaically 
used  for  spearheads  (for  we  are  certain  that  they  were  used  in  these 
Egyptian  reaping-hooks);  and  also  to  the  flint  weapon-points  being 
found  everywhere  as  if  sown  broadcast  ?  And  would  this  throw 
any  new  light  on  Samson's  (reaping  T)  exploit  with  the  "  new  jaw- 
bone-of-an-ass  ?  "*      (Compare  the  beaks,  claws  and  horns,  p.  91.) 

On  correcting  the  proof  of  the  foregoing  sentence,  I  find  in 
Seyffert's  Mythological  Dictionary*  that  **  the  invention  of  the  saw, 
which  he  copied  from  the  chinbone  of  a  snake,"  is  ascribed  to 
Talds,  the  nephew  of  DaiDalos.  Now  when  Kadmos,  helped  by 
KUcAn&O^Ka^  killed  the  monstrous  python-serpent  of  Ar^s — for 
this  drak6n  was  depicted  as  a  great  boa  in  ancient  art — either  the 
goddess  or  he  (by  her  advice)  sowed  its  teeth,*  which  produced  the 
armed  Theban  giants  called  Spartoi,  whose  name  was  brought,  by 
what  I  suggest  was  a  punning  shot,  from  (nrelpm,  sow. 

The  root  is  sfiary  but  another  view  may  be  held,  that  the  real  origin  of 
Spartoi,  and  also  of  airdpros  esparto-grass,  still  exists  in  the  obvious  English 

*  Argon,  iii,  1 187. 

*  Mr.  E.  P.  Coleridge's  version,  p.  138.  *  Judges  xv,  15. 

*  English  ed.  (1891)  by  Nettlcship  and  Sandys,  p.  171.     (No  authority  cited.) 
'  Eurip.  Phoin,  667,  670 ;  Apoll.  Bibl.  iii,  4,  1,4. 


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Myihs.']  The  Aopv  and  "kpm)  of  Kronos,  83 

words  spar  (a  bar,  pole,  yard),  spear,  spur,  "  Aryan  "  sfiara  a  dart  Nor  does 
the  original  sense  of  trirtipto,  (nraipo>,  to  beget,  to  shake,  seem  to  have  been 
merely  the  scattering  of  vegetable  seeds  with  the  hand.  The  words  may  have 
existed  before  agriciilt{rre  was  dreamt  of 

The  idea  I  throw  out  is  that  what  were  fabled  to  have  been 
sown  were  the  flint  weapons,  the  dartheads  and  spearheads,  that 
were  found   in   the    soil   as  if  they  had    been   sown    broadcast. 
Arma  antiqua  manus  ungues  dentesque  fuerunt, 
et  lapides  et  item  silvarum  fragmina  rami. 

(Lucretius  v,  1282.) 
(This,  in  one  aspect,  is  a  doublet  of  Deukalion  and  Pyrrha's  creation 
of  mankind  by  throwing  stones.)  The  next  step  in  my  theory  is  that 
these  flints  were  mixed  up  with  those  put  into  jawbone-sickles 
(and  saws)  to  replace  the  natural  teeth,  and  that  something  like 
this  is  the  rationale  of  the  myth.  And  we  must  not  forget  that 
Dem^ter,  as  the  universal  mother,  irivrcav  Mrrip^  irafifniriop,* 
Trafifi^qreipa,*  produced  the  first  men,  'xap^avyeveU  avdpomot} 

The  sowing  of  the  Roman  Campus  Martius  by  Tarquinius  Superbus  (the 
High  Turner  of  the  heavens)  is  an  obvious  mythic  doublet  of  this  story  of 
Kadmos. 

If  there  be  anything  in  this  speculating,  then  we  may  perhaps 
flash  another  light  on  the  above  "  harvesting "  in  the  Argonauti- 
ka,  A  legend  of  Corcyra  (see  p.  33)  anciently  Drepan^,  related 
by  Aristotle,  said  that  D^m^t^r  there  taught  the  Titans  to  harvest 
with  a  Spejrdvff  or  sickle  that  she  had  begged  of  Poseiddn,  which 
drepan^  she  then  buried,  and  so  gave  its  name  to  the  island. 

In  the  following  century  however,  Timaios*  (260  B.C)  said  that  the  name 
came  from  the  drepan^  with  which  Kronos  maimed  Ouranos,  or  Zeus  cut 
Kronos. 

A  similar  story  was  told  of  Cape  Drepanon  in  Sicily ;  and  we 
here  may  clearly  have  what  was  wanting,  the  putting  into  the 
ground  of  the  teeth  or  flint-teeth  in  the  jaw-sickle.  The  drepan^, 
plucker,  from  Bphro)  pluck,  must  have  been  a  very  primitive  article, 
its  name  belonging  to  a  previous  hand-plucking  of  the  ears. 

If  we  are  to  see  a  celestial  meaning  in  the  Titan's  harvest,  it  was  perhaps  a 
doublet  of  the  shearing  or  skinning  idea,  of  the  golden  fleece,  and  was  thus  a 
figure  for  the  golden  grain  of  the  starry  heavens. 

I  must  not  omit  to  note  that  the  helper  of  Kadmos  was  pro- 
bably not  Ath^n^  at  all,  but  some  local  goddess  who  became 
absorbed  in  Ath^n^ ;  for  the  name  ''07/ca  is  the  obvious  feminine 

*  Hesiod  Op.  et  D,  565.  *  ^sch.  Prom,  90.  ■  Homer  Hymn  xxxiii,  i. 

*  Hesiod  Thcog.  879  ;  Homer  Hymn  in  Cer,  352. 
'  ^rag'  54  (in  Didot,  i,  203). 

F   2 


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84  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 

of  "07/^09,  who  was  similarly  made  a  son  of  Apollo.  Now  one 
sense  of  07^09  was  a  barb — modern  Greek  o/^kclOl  thorn  (compare 
aKav6a\  ar/Kiarpv  hook.  We  still  say  "  toothed  "  for  barbed,  w  hich 
in  modern  Greek  is  oSoi/Taro?. 

There  still  survive  such  strange  human  weapons  that  I  think  it  may  be 
said  that  he  who  would  identify  the  ^pTny  with  a  sickle,  and  a  sickle  only, 
must  be  a  bold  man  indeed.  Mr.  Consul  F.  S.  A.  Bourne^  describes  one 
weapon  as  being  very  common  all  over  the  Yunnan  province  :  It  is  a  rod  of 
iron  about  3  feet  long,  with  a  sword-handle  at  one  end,  and  at  the  other  a 
bar  at  right  angles  to  the  rod  about  5  inches  long,  pointed,  and  sharpened  on 
the  inner  edge.  Asked  what  it  was  for  and  how  used,  one  man  replied  : 
for  men  or  wild  beasts  ;  it  would  give  a  stab  by  striking  or  a  cut  by  pulling 
This  weapon  is  called  kou-lien  (hook). 

The  thyrsus  of  Bacchus  was  frequently  considered  as  hiding  a 
spear-head  under  its  foliage.*  A  bas-relief  in  the  Vatican  shows 
the  point  coming  through,  and  the  correct  term  seems  then  to 
have  been  OvpaoKoyxo^  (Diod.  Sic.  iv,  4).  This  blade  became  a 
lanceolate  leaf.  Note  (see  p.  92)  the  connexion  here  between 
Ba«-j^o9  and  jSax-Tpov, 

Professor  Tiele  duly  rejects  the  "crescent"  interpretation  of 
the  weapon  of  Kronos,  though  Arjuna  uses  a  crescent-tipped 
arrow  in  killing  Kama ;  and  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  allude  to 
the  theories  which  make  the  harp^  either  the  rainbow  or  the  Milky 
Way.  It  has  also  been  rendered  scimitar,  which  would  bring  us 
round  to  the  supreme  god  of  the  ancient  Scythians,  Tivus,  the 
Brilliant,  the  Heavens,  who  was  also,  like  the  supreme  deity  of 
the  Jews,  their  god-of-battles,  and  was  represented  by  a  dart  or  a 
lance  fixed  on  the  mound  of  assembly  and  sacrifice,'  whence  Tivus 
had  also  the  names  of  Dart  (Scyth.,  Kaizus  ;  Goth.,  GaTsus*)  and 
Lance  (Kaztus  and  Gazds).  Herodotus  (iv,  62)  however  made 
the  Scythian  god's  emblem  a  very  ancient  sword-blade,  which  was 
actually  worshipped ;  and  this  opens  out  a  wide  field  for  com- 
parisons with  the  divine  swords  of  Japan. 

Apart  from  the  well-worn  old  Western  cliche  about  the  turning 
of  the  sword  into  the  ploughshare,  we  have  the  mythic  sword  of  the 
god  Susa  no  Wo  the  Impetuous-Male  of  Japan,  which  sword  is 
called  the  grass-cutter  (kusanagi  no  tsurugi  or  tachi),  and  in  it  we 
must  see  the  sickle  into  which  the  divine  harp6  also  dwindles.     It 

>  Journey  in  S.  W,  China,     Parly.  Paper  C.  5371  (1888)  p.  9. 
'  Macrob.  Sat.  i,  19 ;  Diod.  Sic.  iii,  65 ;  Lucian,  Bacch,  3. 

*  Bergmann's  Cylfa  Ginning^  p.  270. 

*  See  also  Mr.  Wharton's  Etyma  Latina,  s.v.  gaesum 


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AfyiAs.]  The  Aopv  and  ''kpwr\  of  Kronos,  85 

reappears  as  the  heavenly  sword  sent  down  to  Yamato-Take,  and 
is  one  of  the  three  treasures  (with  the  mirror  and  the  stone)  of  the 
regalia  of  Japan. 

The  Fii-e  deity  in  Japan  has  for  one  of  his  names  the  Kagu-hammer  of  Fire, 
Hi  no  Kagu-tsuchi  (as  to  which  see  Index)  ;  he  was  the  son  of  Izanagi  and 
Izanamiy  and  his  father  cut  off  his  head  with  a  ten-handed  sword  (to-tsuka 
tsurugi)  which  was  called  both  the  Wohabari  of  the  heavens  and  the  strong  or 
sacred  Wohabari  (Ame  no  Wohabari  and  Itsu  no  Wohabari).  Wo-ha-bari  is 
dimly  explained  as  Point-blade-extended,*  which  would  suit  the  Axis-spear. 
This  sword  is  deified  afterwards  as  a  Kami  who  dwells  in  the  Rock- Palace  (ihaya) 
by  the  source  of  the  heavens-river.*  He  also  blocks  up  and  turns  back  the 
heavens-river,  and  blocks  up  the  road  to  his  abode,  so  that  no  other  god  can 
get  to  him.     Here  is  a  reminder  of  the  Flaming  Sword  of  the  Hebrews. 

The  Egyptian  royal  blade  called  ;3^epesh  |  was  compared 
by  Champollion  to  the  harp^.  The  word  ;3^epesh  also  means 
the  ox's  foreleg,  shoulder,  /^i::^,  of  which  it  is  said  to  have  the  form 
(though  this  is  not  explained).  It  is  royal,  and  thus  perhaps  an 
executioner's  as  well  as  a  sacrificial  knife.  The  god  Mentu  holds 
it  (as  war-god  ?).  According  to  the  ancient  Amhurst  Papyrus  "  the 
august  mummy  of  the  king "  (in  a  record  of  the  opening  of  a 
royal  tomb)  was  "  found  near  the  divine  ;^epesh."  This  ;3^epesh 
knife  (or  leg-of-beef)  is  also  mentioned  in  the  funereal  rituals  as  a 
northern  constellation  ;  and  the  leg-of-beef  /'^a  "  has  given  its 
name  to  the  constellation  of  the  Great  Bear  "  says  Pierret.*  There 
may  thus  not  be  much  danger  in  suggesting  that  this  hieroglyph 
AC:^  may  have  originally  meant  the  Great  Bear,  the  form  of  which 
it  resembles.  Have  we  not  here  too  a  supreme  connexion  with 
that  most  widespread  custom  of  divination  by  the  sacred  sacrificial 
shoulder-blade-bone  ?     We  have 

•  ^  X^p,  thigh.      ®j^  ^^^    X^pesh,  shoulder  (fore-thigh). 

y    2    ma,  shoulder.     'yfL  ma,  to  immolate. 

^      ;^epesh,  Ursa  Major. 
0  ^  and  Vb^  xepesh,  royal  blade. 


^^^0  ^^^    ;^pesh,  power,  strength. 

The  Berosus  account  of  the  production  of  Heavens  and  Earth  is  old  and 
strange,  but  quite  on  the  lines  of  the  theories  I  here  advance  ;  and  it  was  con- 
firmed by  one  of  the  Chaldean  tablets  discovered  by  the  late  Mr.  George  Smith. 
The  demi-urgos  B^los  or  Bel-Maruduk  struggles  with  the  goddess  Tiamat,  one  of 
the  personifications  of  primordial  humidity,  darkness,  and  mist,  and  cuts  her  in 
*  Kojikiy  pp.  34,  31,  29.  *  Ibid,  lOO.  •  Diet,  p.  i6S;  Vocab,  p.  237. 


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86  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

two  ;  making  of  the  lower  half  the  Earth,  and  of  the  upper  the  Heavens.  The 
tablet  says  "he  made  also  the  scimitar  (sapara)  to  pierce  the.  body  of 
Tiamat,"  and  "  the  Lord  also  drew  his  scimitar,  he  struck  her  ;  he  brought  to 
the  front  the  cutting  weapon  ;  he  broke  her  stomach,  her  inside  he  cut,  he  split 
her  heart"*  This  has  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  weapon  of  Kronos,  and  also 
to  the  Egg  and  the  egg-opening  ideas. 

The  Scythian  dart  or  lance,  too,  at  once  recalls  the  magic  lance 
of  Alexander  at  p.  36  ;  and  according  to  the  guide-book  of  Pau- 
sanias  (i,  i  &  2)  an  Athenian  statue  of  Poseid6n  represented  him 
hurling  a  spear  dX  the  giant  PoluBotfis.  In  the  temple  of  Ath^n6 
at  the  Piraeus  too,  he  adds,  the  statue  of  the  goddess  held  a  spear 
(as  did  the  Trojan  Palladium). 

The  Chair6n^ans,  further  wrote  Pausanias  (ix,  40),  venerate 
above  all  the  gods  the  sceptre  which  Homer  {Iliads  ii)  says 
Hephaistos  made  for  Zeus^  This  sceptre  Hermes  received  from 
Zeus  and  gave  to  Pelops,  Pelops  left  it  to  Atreus,  Atreus  to 
Thyestes,  and  from  Thyestes  it  came  to  Agamemnon.  This 
sceptre,  too,  they  call  The  Spear  (iopv)  ;  and  indeed  that  it  contains 
something  of  a  nature  more  divine  than  usual  is  evident  from 
hence,  that  a  certain  splendour  is  seen  proceeding  from  it  The 
Chalr6neans  say  that  this  sceptre  was  found  in  the  borders  of  the 
Panopeans  (Ilai;,  Ops?)  in  Phocis.  There  is  not  any  temple 
publicly  raised  for  this  sceptre  ;  but  every  year  the  person  to  whose 
care  this  sacred  sceptre  is  committed,  places  it  in  a  building  destined 
to  this  purpose  ;  and  the  people  sacrifice  to  it  every  day,  and  place 
near  it  a  table  full  of  all  kinds  of  flesh  and  sweetmeats. 

There  js  a  passage  in  Justinus  (xliii,  3)  which  clearly  refers  to 
this.  At  the  origin  of  things,  he  says,  the  men  of  old  adored  lances 
as  imqaortal  gods  ;  in  mepory  of  which  worship,  lances  are  added 
to  the  statues  of  the  gods  to  this  day.  TAb  origine  rerum,  pro 
diis  immortalibus  veteres  hastas  coluere ;  cujus  religionis  ob 
memoriam  adhuc  deorum  simulacris  hastae  adduntur.) 

The  horse-god  Aswatth^man,  son  of  Dr6na  the  son  of  Bharad- 
wftja,  threatened  Phalguna  (Arjuna)  with  the  spear  of  Brahm^ ; 
but  Phalguna  "opposed  the  spear  of  Brahm^  to  the  spear  of 
Brdhma."'  This  spear  of  the  son  of  Dr6na  is  pointed  with  red-hot 
iron  and  directed  against  Uttard  (goddess  of  the  North  ?) ;  it  seems 
to  become  five  spears ;  but  Bhagavat  opposes  to  it  his  own  spear 
Sudarsana 

'  F.  Lenormant*s  Ori^.  de  VHist.  i,  124,  506,  508,  511,  512. 
»  Bhdg.-purdna,  i,  7,  29 ;  8,  8,  &c.  ;  8,  24 ;  12,  I  ;  15,  12. 


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Myths.']  The  /iopv  and  \pw7i  of  Kronos,  ^7 

(which  is  also  the  name  of  the  chakra  of  Krishna,  which  is  also  called  Vajra- 
Ndbha  =  the  Navel-Vajra  ;  the  vajra  being  a  circular  weapon  with  a  central 
hole.     It  was  given  to  Krishna  by  Agni). 

The  spear  of  Brahm^  is  called  Brahmasiras,  and  is  appeased  on  en- 
countering the  splendour  of  Vishnu  (Bhagavat).  Hari  is  praised  for 
saving  from  the  spear  of  the  son  of  Drdna.  The  burning  spear 
Brahmasiras,  thrown  by  Asvvatth^man,  burns  and  kills  the  child 
Parikshit  that  Uttar^  was  bearing  in  her  womb,  but  the  child  was 
recalled  to  life  by  Bhagavat  (Krishna).^  Siva  (or  Indra)  gave  his 
spear  to  SOta,  "  the  charioteer  "  (Kama),  in  exchange  for  his  divine 
cuirass.  But  all  this  conception  of  the  spear  (while  in  the  divine 
names  used  a  connection  with  the  North  and  the  heavens-omphalos 
are  made  certain)  dovetails  inseparably  into  those  of  the  divine 
chakra-weapon,  and  the  trident ;  as  is  excellently  illustrated  in  the 
last  passage  here  taken  from  the  Bhdgavata : 

Like  one  who  wants  to  cast  a  curse  at  a  Brahman,  Hiranyiksha  [golden-eye, 
the  chief  of  the  Diityas  ;  demon-giants  who  are  scarcely  to  be  distinguished 
from  the  Dinavas]  seized  his  spear  armed  with  three  points,  resplendent, 
insatiable  as  fire,  and  directed  it  against  Yajna  [sacrifice,  who  had  taken  a 
visible  form  ;  victim  ?]  This  weapon,  launched  with  vigour  by  the  great  hero  of 
the  Ddityas,  and  shining  in  the  mid-heavens  with  a  splendour  that  was  immense, 
the  god  severed  with  the  keen  edge  of  hi§  Chakra  (iii,  19,  13). 


The  Phoenician  heavens-god  Baal-sh4mayim  by  ll;  Osiris  by  Typhon 
(Tebh  ?);  Typhon  and  Set  by  Horus ;  Ouranos  by  Kronos  ;  Kronos  and  Typhon 
by  Zeus  ;  Dionusos  by  the  two  other  Kabeiroi ;«  Adonis  and  Odin  by  boars ; 
Attis  and  Odin  and  £shm(in  and  Ra"  by  themselves  or  others  ;  the  Herm- 
Aphroditean  daemon  Agdistis  by  all  the  gods,*  were  each  and  all  similarly 
mutilated.  The  disablement  was  common  towards  captives  in  all  ages,  and  was 
probably  enforced  against  the  older  males  by  the  younger  in  the  days  of 
pristine  innocence.  The  usual  mystic  explanation  of  this  typical  mutilation  of 
the  god  now  current  is  the  fall  of  the  year,  the  winter  fall  of  the  sun.  But 
another  is  easily  possible. 

The  Samoan  heavens  at  first  fell  down  and  lay  upon  the  Earth  until  the 
arrowroot  and  another  plant,  or  the  god  Ti-iti-i,  pushed  the  heavens  up.*  The 
Mangaian  sky  was  in  a  similar  position  until  the  sky-supporting  god  Ru  set  to 
work.*  In  New  Zealand,  says  Mr.  Lang,^  the  heavens  and  earth  were  regarded 
as  a  real  pair,  Rangi  and  Papa,  of  bodily  parts  and  passions,  united  in  a  secular 
embrace.     Dr.  Wallis  Budge  here  suggests  to  me  the  apposite  and  happy 

'  Bhdg.-pur&nay  i,  i8,  i  ;  iii,  3,  17.  '  Clem,  of  Alex. 

*  Perenihruy  ch.  17.    Th.  Deveria :  Cat,  des  MSS.  42. 

*  Pausanias,  vii,  18.  There  is  a  curious  parallel  to  the  myth  of  Attis  and  his  bride 
in  a  Japanese  myth  of  Amaterasu  and  Susanowo  (Chamberlain's  Kojiki^  p.  54)  which 
would  bear  investigation.  '  Turner's  Samoa^  p.  198. 

*  Giirs  Myths  and  Songs,  p.  59.  ^  Myth,  RU,  and  Rel,  i,  253,  302. 


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^S  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

parallel  of  "  the  Egyptian  idea  that  the  (feminine)  heavens  came  down  and  lay 
upon  the  Earth  all  night  until  Shu  (the  sunlight  ?)  lifted  her  up  each  morning. 
Sky  was  Nut  ;  Earth,  Seb."  [The  incorrigible  gardener^s  connexion  of  the 
moon  with  the  sowing  of  seeds  comes  in  here  too.]  The  Heavens  and  Earth 
are  in  the  Veda,  says  Dr.  Muir,  constantly  styled  the  parents  not  only  of  men 
b\it  of  the  gods.  Mr.  Lang  applies  the  same  explanation  to  Kronos  and  Gaia ; 
and  cites  the  Maori's  god  Tane-Mahuta  sundering  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
by  cruelly  severing  the  sinews  that  united  them.  Thiis  view  of  the  mutilation 
of  Kronos  fits  in  admirably  with  the  phallic  view  of  the  pillar  that  represents 
the  Axis  which  joins  heavens  and  earth  ;  and  the  mutilation  of  the  heavens-god 
would  then  be  "  another  account "  of  the  separation  of  heavens  and  earth ; 
both  accounts  being  fused  into  on?  perfect  account  in  the  Maori  myth  and  also 
in  Hesiod  {Theog,  175-185)  where  Ouranos  approaches  Gaiayh7i«  a  distance^ 
and  Kronos  then  commits  the  mutilation.  This  seems  to  me  to  be  of  first-rate 
importance  in  expounding  these  myths  ;  and  I  owe  the  idea  to  Mr.  Lang,  who, 
however,  does  not  carry  it  into  the  axis-myths.  The  myth  of  Attis  and  Kubcl^ 
would  then  be  only  a  variant,  and  the  eunuch-priests  of  the  Earth-.goddess 
would  explain  themselves. 

See  also  p.  38  ante^  to  which  the  following  addition  may  here  be  made. 
The  Earth  was  adored  in  China,  says  De  Groot',  under  the  name  of  Ti  KH 
Jfe  jjl^t  for  which  he  selects  the  equivalent  Earth-goddess,  because  JP^  after  a 
proper  name  is  a  female  determinative.  Another  name  for  the  Earth  was  Heou 
T'ou  ^  j^  Empress-Earth.  In  combination  with  the  heavens-deity,  the  ex- 
pression "  Emperor-heavens  and  Empress-Earth,"  was  used,  ^  5^  ^  i* 

Fitcs  cTEmouiy  i,  147. 


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MythsJ]      Divine  Names  in  Harp-  and  Dor-.  ^9 


8. — Divine  Names  in  Harp-  and  Dor-. 

jr  jr  ARPA  was  the  spouse  of  Kleinis,  who  sacrificed  asses  in  the  temple 
I  I  of  Apollo  among  the  Hyperboreans  (that  is  at  the  farthest  north,  the 
-^  -^  pole).  This  Apollo  forbad— showing  how  ancient  the  accusations 
about  ass- worship  are — but  two  of  the  children  of  Kleinis  continued  the 
sacrifices,  while  two  others — Ortugios  and  Art^mich^  or  -cha — became  converts. 
Apollo  raged,  and  father  and  children  were  (all  equity  has  been  muddled  out  of 
the  myth)  changed  into  birds ;  Ortugios  not  into  an  ortux  or  quail  as  one  would 
have  expected  (which  supports  the  derivation  of  Ortygia  as  a  name  of  D^los 
which  has  been  given  on  p.  32,  above)  but  into  an  aigithalos  (titmouse)  a  bird 
hostile  to  Bees,  and  Art^michd  into  a  piphinx  (lark).  [Note  that  these  bird- 
names  were  foreign  to  Greece,  and  that  the  nymph  Kl^is  and  her  sisters 
brought  up  Bacchus  in  Naxos,  and  that  KleXa  was  a  daughter  of  Atlas ; 
also  that  kleidomantia  was  divination  by  a  key  or  keys.  Can  all  such  names, 
and  the  terminal  syllable  of  so  many  god-names,  -icXi;?,  have  to  do  with  key 
in  the  sense  of  the  key  of  the  arch  {kKt)U^  bar,  key;  Old- Irish  clui  nails; 
English  slot  bplt)  ?  I  return  to  this  in  the  section  on  "  The  Arcana."] 
Harpasos  was  another  son  of  Kleinis. 

Harpagos  (or  is  it  Har-pagos  ?)  was  a  horse  of  the  Djoscures, 
Harpali  (or  Har-pal6  ?)  and  Harpiaia  (?)  were  a  dog  and  bitch  of  Aktai6n's. 
Harpalukos  and  Harpaluki  must  be  a  pair.  The  first  taught  H^raKl^s, 
so  that  he  was  an  ancient  of  the  ancients.  Of  Pelasgos  and  Meliboia  (the 
heavens  Bee-goddess  ? — daughter  of  6keanos),  or  else  of  Pelasgos  and  the 
nymph  Kull^n6,  was  bom  Luka6n,  king  of  the  Arcadians,  who  had  by  many 
wives  fifty  boys  that  in  pride  and  impiety  surpassed  all  mortals.  Among  them 
were  Pal  Las,  Harpaleus,  Harpalukos,  Titanas,  Kleitor,  and  Orchomenos.» 
One  myth  makes  Harpalukos  father  of  Harpaluki,  who  lived  on  mare's  milk 
and  was  an  amazon.  She  was  otherwise  the  most  beauteous  daughter  of 
Klumenos,  king  of  Argos  the  heavens,  or  of  Arkadia  the  polar  heavens. 
Pherecydes*  said  Klumenos  was  one  of  the  numerous  sons  of  H^raK16s  and 
Megara.  He  was  thus  one  of  the  Idaian  H^raklid^s.  Apollodoros'  made 
Klumenos  son  of  Oineus  (kmg  of  Kalud6n)  and  Althaia  (daughter  of  Thestios). 
Other  genealogies  are  numerous.  He  was  king  of  Orchomenos  and  son  of 
Presbon  (;.^.,  The  Old  One),  and  was  killed  by  a  Theban  with  a  stone  ;  or  the 
son  of  Phor6neus  ( =  the  hidden  ?),  father  of  mortals,  and  Chthonia  (daughter  of 
Kolontas,  or  by  other  accounts  the  sister  of  Klumenos).  He  was  also  king  of 
Elis,  driven  therefrom  by  Endymi6n.  Or  again,  Klumenos  was  the  son  of 
Helios  and  father  of  Phaith6n  by  Merop^  (or  Phaith6n  was  the  son  of  Helios 
by  KlumenS  the  wife  of  Merops).  Klumenos  was  also  a  companion  of  Phineus 
and  killed  by  Odit^s  (a  centaur)  at  the  wedding  of  Perseus.  These  must  all  be 
differing  accounts  of  the  same  divine  personage,  and  the  genealogical  inex- 
tricability  is  typical  of  his   eariiness.      It  gives   me  great  satisfaction  to  be 

*  Apoll.  Bibl  ii,  i,  7  ;  iii,  8,  i,  «  Frag,  ii,  30.  *  BibL  i,  8. 


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90  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axi 


xts 


here  able  to  quote  F.  Lenormant's  endorsement  of  both  K.  O.  MiiUer  and 
Preller  :  "II  ne  faut  pas,  comme  Pont  tr^s  bien  vu  Ottfried  M tiller  et  Preller, 
attacher  plus  d'importance  qu'elles  ne  mdritent  k  ces  variations  de  genealogies." 
(He  is  dealing  with  ErusiChth6n's  parentage.)*  Plout6n  was  also  called 
Klumenos  ;  but  Pausailias  (ii,  35,  3  to  7)  described  a  field  of  Klumenos  as 
well  as  a  field  of  Plout6n  behind  the  temple  of  D6m^t6r  at  Hermion^  of  the 
Apvcwrey.  F.  Lenormant*  interpreted  icXv/icvo;  as  "heard  not  seen"  (which 
would  be  The  Word,  the  wind?).  The  divine  names  in  kKv-  badly  want  a 
threshing-out. 

Harpaluki  (who  was  espoused  to  Alastdr)'  was  possessed  by  Klumenos  her 
father,  but  she  killed  her  son  (also  her  brother)  and  served  him  up  to  her  (and 
his)  father  in  a  Pelops,  sacrificial-cannibalism,  myth.  Or  again,  she  was  the 
daughter  of  (the  heavens-)  Law-bearer  Luko-urgos  (Lycurgus).  She  became  a 
bird.  There  was  a  girPs  song  called  harpaluki  which  was  perhaps  comparable 
to  the  men's  song  harmodios  mentioned  elsewhere. 

Harpaleus — see  Harpalukos. 

Harpalion  (or  Har-palion  ?)  son  of  Pulaim6n^s  l^ing  pf  the  Paphlagonians 
(compare  Paphos). 

Harpi^  one  of  the  amazons  who  helped  Ai^t^s  king  of  Colchis. 

harps  {ip'Trrj)  the  weapon  of  Kronois,  Hermes,  and  Perseus  ;  the 
sword  curved  at  an  obti|se  angle  of  the  Thracjan  gladiators. 
Hermes  was  called  harp^dophoros.     Also  a  kite  or  faleo  gentilis. 

harpax  (dprra^)  drawing  to  itself,  a  thief ;  but 

harpacticon^  sulphur  (Pliny  xxxy,  25,  50)  poss^s^d  the  virtue  of  drawing 
things  to  itself. 

Hat  pis  was  one  of  the  Cyclops  (sons  of  Ouranos  and  Gd,  or  of  Kollos  and 
Titaia. 

Harpinna^  daughter  of  Asdpos  and  spouse  of  Ar6s. 

Harpies  (^kpirviai^  Harpyiae).  Hag-visaged  vulture-bodied 
monsters  with  hooked  beak  and  claws  and  pendant  dugs.  (See 
more  of  them  under  the  head  of  "  Divine  Birds.")  Harrison  and 
Verrall's  Aftcient  Atfiens  (p.  Ixxx)  says : 

"  they  are  called  Arepuiai  in  early  art ;"  but  may  there  not  here  have 
been  some  confusion  with  the  feather-shooting  birds  of  Ar^s  in  the  Argonautika 
(ii,  1033,  1083)  ?  Apollodoros**  made  the  two  Harpuiai  begotten  by  Thaumas 
(son  of  Pontos  and  G6)  out  of  felektra.     He  also  named  them  Aell6  (storm  ?) 

*  Saglio*s  Diet,  i,  1039. 

'  Art  on  Ceres,  in  Saglio's  Diet,  i,  1025. 

*  Mr.  E.  K.  Wharton  gives  "  dXaoro)/)  avenger,  accursed  :  0X17  *dXdfa>,  '  making  or 
made  to  wander  * "  {Etyma  Graca),  The  Alastdr^  were  inimical  genii.  We  seem  to 
have  here  a  straight  parallel  to  the  Avestan  notion  of  the  evil-working  pairikas,  the 
wandering  planets.  Alast6r  would  thus  be  a  Vagabond  (planet).  He  was  also  a  horse- 
god  (of  Plout6n's).  His  brothers,  by  Neleus  out  of  Chloris,  were  Asterios,  Radios,  the 
protean  V^nKiumenos,  and  eight  more  (a  Twelve  in  all)  with  a  sister  n^pw,  who  has  a 
strange  resemblance  to  perinpairika. 

*  Bibi,  i,  2,  6 ;  i,  9,  21. 


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Myths, ^       Divine  Names  in  Harp-  and  Dor-,  91 

and  6kupet6  (swift-flight),  alias  6kutho^  (swift-swift)  or,  according  to  Hesiod, 
6kupod^  (swift-ft)oted). 

The  connexion  between  the  artificial  weapon  harp^  and  the 
natural  weapons  of  the  prey-birds  is  what  strikes  me  most  in  these 
words.  We  have  it  in  the  totally  independent  myths  of  the  Harpies 
and  of  Harpa,  Harpasos.  The  identical  same  thing  in  another 
form  of  words  is  seen  in  the  close  connexion  and  confusion  of 
Picus  the  pike-god  with  picus  the  pie-bird.  Is  the  conclusion  to 
be  that  the  beaks  and  claws  of  birds  were  some  of  the  first,  as  the 
most  ready,  of  the  spear-points  used  by  primaeval  men  ?  (See 
also  what  is  said  a  little  lower  down  as  to  the  horn  of  the  So/>f 
tipping  the  hopv  spear,  and  as  to  teeth  on  Pr  82.) 

The  flight  of  the  Harpies  and  their  swooping  and  snatching  of 
their  food,  and  their  defouling  habits  as  they  fly,  must  be  taken 
from  the  great  predaceous  night  fruit-bats ;  as  anyone  who  has 
lived  among  these  last  may  testify.  The  chasing  of  the  Harpies  by 
the  prodromoi  (the  preci|V6ors  qf  day  ?)  also  proveg  them  night- 
hags.  The  bird-vampire  idea  of  the  Striges  among  the  Romans^ 
may  have  had  a  similar  origin  (strix  screechowl  ;  striga  witch). 

[Harpocrat^s  or  Harpocras  is  omitted,  being  a  Greek  misconception  of 
Egyptian  mythplpgy,] 


iopv.  Let  us  first  take  hovpq,^^  Bopc^^^  Sopu,  4  spear,  lance, 
pole,  bean),  timber ;  and  (Sovpov)  Sovpa^  timber,  poles,  spears. 
Here  is  c^  resen^blance  tp  the  Latin  axis,  which  pie^nt  plank  as  well 
as  axle.  It  is  worth  noting  that  SopmaXTo?,  a  brandishing  of  the 
spear,  is  ^  duplication  containing  both  Sopv  and  ttoX  and  thus 
showing — what  is  in  fact  evident — that  these  two  terms  for  the 
spear  came  from  different  languages  or  tribes.  Aopv  is  matched 
by  the  Avestan  d^ura  which  meant  timber  also  (see  "  The  Gods 
of  the  Druids  "). 

^^pi  ^  gazelle,  antelope,  wildrgoat,  would  be  so-called  from  the  horns, 
which  may  also  have  tipped  the  spear.  This  word  also  appears  as  ^opitrj  d6pK0£ 
d6pKav  and  ^6pKas  (Latin  dorca  and  dorcas)  which  last  gives 

AopKOf  (Hebrew,  Tabitha)  a  woman's  name.  This  we  must  connect  with 
the  worship  of  Ashtoreth  and  Artemis.  Wild-goats  were  sacred  to  the  Arab 
unmarried  goddess  at  whose  shrine  women,  whom  the  Arabs  compare  to  ante- 
lopes, prostituted  themselves  J  and  the  bovine  antelope  bohtha  was  in  South  Arabia 
connected  with  the  worship  of  Athtar,  the  male  counterpart  of  Ashtoreth.  On 
Phoenician  gems  the  gazelle  is  a  symbol  of  Ashtoreth.    There  were  golden  gazcl  1  c  s 

*  Ovid,  Fasf.  vi,  loi,  etc. 


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9  2  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

at  the  Zem-Zem  well  of  Mecca.*  This  explains  why  the  prostitute's  quarter 
was  called,  as  in  Rhodes,  Keratohori,  horaed-village ;  and  also  the  depositing 
o  f  horns  (cornua)  against  the  doors  of  the  Roman  meretrices  as  late  as  the 
15th  and  1 6th  centuries;*  and  further  the  whole  grotesque  symbolism  in  the 
laughing  to  scorn  of  the  horn,  the  horn,  the  lusty  hom,»  which  thus  primarily 
luded  to  the  wife,  and  only  by  a  ricochet  to  the  husband.  [I  am  of  course 
here  abandoning  the  gladness  of  the  soft  black  eye,  and  the  derivation  of  h6p^ 
ic.r.X.  from  d<pica)  to  see  ;  Old- Irish  derc  eye,  Sanskrit  dar9  see.] 

AopKcvr  was  a  dog  of  Aktaion's.     Was  it  a  deer-hound  ? 

£^opK(vs  was  also  a  son  of  Hippoko6n,  and  named  a  fountain  in  Sparta. 

L6p^vov  a  phallic  deity  to  whom,  said  Athenaeus  (citing  Plato's  Phado\ 
women  made  offerings. 

Doris  daughter  of  6keanos,  sister  and  wife  of  N^reus,  and  mother  of  the 
fifty  Nereides  or  Dorides.  (She  was  mother  of  Suma  or  Sume,  mother  of 
Chthonios.) 

A<»/)4€tff,  the  Dorians,  claimed  descent  from  Dorus  the  son  of  Hell6n,  son 
of  Deukalion.  The  Three  Eyes  that  were  the  guides  of  the  Dorians,  and  the 
Triopon  promontory,  are  notable.  The  Rhodians  spoke  Doric.  There  was  the 
Dorian  nox  and  the  Dorian  ignes.  Note  here  the  insuppressible  relation  of 
the  Dorian  tribe-name  to  the  ^6pv  shaft  or  spear,  which  closely  belongs  to  the 
connexion  (p,  84)  of  the  Bactrians  with  fiuKvpov  fidKnjpia  a  staff  or  prop. 

Dotion  was  a  Danaid. 

Dorippi  was  mother  of  Spermo  (query  related  to  spear,  spar  a  pole,  spams) 
Ou/o  (=  vine  ?)  and  Elais  or  Elaia  (=  olive-tree).  The  father  of  these  three 
nymphs,  who  all  changed  to  doves,  was  Anius  king  and  high-priest  of  D^los. 
( Anius  must  be  connected  with  the  Semitic  An,  Anu  ?)  This  myth  is  extremely 
like  that  of  the  Hesperid^s. 

Doriiidi  was  a  name  of  the  Gnidians  for  Aphrodite. 

Dorpda^  the  first  day,  the  feast-day,  of  the  mysterious  Apatouroi ;  a  com- 
mentary on  which  here  would  interrupt  the  connexion. 

dorsum  or  dorsus,  the  spine.  This  word  is  said  by  the  etymologists  to  be 
related  to  dfipar,  deip^,  h^pr\  a  mountain  ridge  ;*  but  surely  h6pv  is  the  next-of-kin? 
Mr.  Wharton  compares  the  Old- Irish  druim  with  both  dorsum  back  and  ftci/j^ 
as  neck* — the  word  that  means  neck  ought  to  be  a  subordinate  word  to  that 
which  implies  back  (bone)  and  neck. 

DoriKliSy  one  of  the  numerous  "  heroes  "  in  -kl^s.  DoriKlos  son  of  Priamos 
(Priam)  was  killed  by  Ajax. 

DoruKleus  was  the  son  of  Hippoko6n,  and  both  father  and  son  were  killed 
by  H^raKl^s  (ApolL  BibL  iii,  10,  5). 

Ao/}v-Xatoi/  the  Phrygian  place-name  seems  to  be  compounded 
of  spear  +  stone,  Xfi?.  And  so  does  the  name  which  was  perhaps 
its  origin,  that  of 

*  Prof.  Robertson  Smith.     Kinship  and  Marriage,  194,  19s,  298. 

*  Statuta  urbis  Ronicty  etc  1558,  lib.  iv,  cap.  23. 
»  As  You  Like  It,  iv,  2. 

*  Curtius  i,  291  ;  Fick  i,  616— cited  by  Prof.  Skeat. 

*  Etyma  Graca  and  Latina. 


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Myths.']       Divine  Names  in  Harp-  and  Dor-.  93 

DorU'las,  the  companion  of  Perseus  and  Peirithoos — the  latter 
the  son  of  Ixion,  the  king  of  the  Lapithai,  and  the  consort  of 
Hippodamia.  DoruLas  was  a  centaur,  killed  by  Theseus  or  by 
Alkuond  (also  changed  to  a  bird).  Compare  DoruLas  with  Pal- 
Las,  ante, 

dopv<f>6pos,  the  spear-bearer,  was  a  famous  statue  by  Polukl^t^s. 


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94  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 


9. — Natural  Magnets  ;  Meteorites  ;  Beth-fels. 

71  JATURAL  MAGNETS.  The  existence  of  the  so-called 
/  y  fleur-de-Lis  on  the  northern  point  of  the  magnetic  needle,  as 
here  explained,  may  point  to  a  far-back  time,  long  before  that  needle 
was  thought  of,  when  natural  magnets  of  magnetic  oxyde  of  iron — 
so  common  a  mineral  in  Northern  Europe — were  sacrosanct  sym- 
bols, holy  stones,  dedicated  to  the  worship  and  instinct  with  the 
divinity  of  Tai-Ki,  Tai-Yi,  or  Shang-Ti,  the  Great  Supreme,  the 
Great  First,  the  Uppermost,  the  Polar  centre  of  the  Universe, 
during  long  ages  before  it  dawned  upon  men  to  turn  their  mys- 
terious properties,  all  so  gradually  ascertained,  to  the  traveller's  and 
to  the  mariner's  use.  These  magnets  would  have  been  first  devoted 
to  acts  of  worship,  and  to  the  definition  of  the  sacrificial  worshipping 
position  ;  and  the  periods  of  their  deflections  to  west  or  to  east  may, 
it  is  scarcely  fanciful  to  reflect,  have  boded  calamities  or  the 
reverse,  while  their  direct  pointing  to  the  Polar  Star  would  have 
been  of  happiest  augury. 

Let  us  adventure  such  a  supposition  as  that  the  production  of 
sound  in  a  piece  of  iron  when  suddenly  magnetised  or  demagnetised 
— which  we  have  now  for  some  time  known  to  be  a  scientific  fact — 
could  have  been  demonstrated  to  the  deeply  reverent  generations 
of  far-back  men  who  "  invented  beth-£ls,  manufacturing  animated 
stones."  What  an  irrefragable  confirmation  it  might  have  been  to 
them  of  the  faith  that  was  in  them.  Add  this  to  the  fact  that 
magnetism  disappears  at  a  high  temperature  (say  in  the  sacrificial 
fire),  and  we  should  have— ^if  we  could  permit  ourselves  to  think  it 
— not  alone  £l  entering  the  b^th,  the  god  entering  the  stone, 
but  leaving  it,  and  re-ascending  into  heaven,  with  the  smoke  and 
savour  of  the  burnt  offering. 

F.  Lenormant  identified  the  god  El  Gabal  (whose  name  was 
taken  by  the  frantic  fanatic  Heliogabalus,  as  high-priest  of  the  sacred 
stone)  with  the  old  Chaldean  god  of  cosmic  fire,  Gibil,  who  was 
also  called  the  god  of  the  black  stone.  The  Semitic  word  gabal 
too  means  lofty,  and  is  used  in  Aramean  and  Syrian  place-names 
to  imply  heights.^     (See  also  p.  116).     Here  the  central  fire  of  the 


Reville,  ReHg,  sous  les  SJv^reSy  242, 


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Afy^As.]     Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites ;  Beth-Iils,  95 

Universe-wheel  (which   I   have  to  defer  till  later  on),  the  black 
stone,  and  the  height  of  heaven,  are  all  brought  together. 

The  extremely  early  religious  relation  which  is  here  sought 
to  be  established  between,  let  us  say,  ironstone  and  fire  would 
naturally  have  led  to  the  presence  of  both  stone  and  fire  at  in  or  on 
the  sacrificial  altar  where  victims  were  first  burnt  to  the  supreme 
cosmic  Northern  ruler  and  Swayer  of  the  Universe.  And  we  do 
actually  find  in  archaic  China  "  a  precious  stone  "  and  the  victim 
ordered  to  be  both  placed  upon  the  pyre  for  the  "  smoking  sacri- 
fice/** The  Chinese  cyclopedia  called  the  Wu  tsa  tsu  (end  of  i6th 
centuiy)  mentioned  that  "  if  the  magnet-stone  be  heated,  its  fluid 
evaporates,  and  it  is  nO  longer  sensitive."*  And  this  theory  of 
mine  may  even  point  to  the  manner  of  the  first  smelting  of  an  iron 
ore  as  an  accident  in  the  sacrificial  fire. 


Meteorites,  I  would  not  here  be  misunderstood  as  controverting, 
in  favour  of  the  natural  magnet,  the  other  and  the  hitherto  favourite 
meteoric  origin  of  sacred  stones,  meteors  containing  as  much  as 
90  per  cent,  of  iron.  The  two  origins  would  have  been  independent, 
it  is  true,  but  not  antagonistic.  They  are  not  alone  compatible, 
but  would  have  been  mutually-supporting  tenets,  facts,  of  primeval 
stone-worship.  One  class  of  stones  came  from  heaven ;  the  other 
pointed  there.     "  So  shakes  the  Needle,  and  so  stands  the  Pole."* 

**  A  diamond-bearing  meteorite  recently  fell  in  Siberia  ;  while 
in  the  Deesa  meteorite  we  have  a  splinter  from  a  vein  of  iron 
injected,  it  would  appear,  into  a  previously  existing  rock  on  some 
unknown  planetary  globe."* 

Milliter's  well-known  dissertation  on  bethels  and  heaven-fallen  stones  did 
not  suggest  the  magnetic  theory  of  "  animation  "  which  I  have  here  started. 
He  points  out  how  they  were,  both  great  and  small,  preserved  in  temples  for 
worship ;  and  how  the  smaller,  as  being  less  potent,  served  as  domestic  talis- 
mans or  as  charms  and  gri-gris  of  the  diviners  and  astrologers.  Creuzer  quoted 
Mone's  authority  for  the  suspension  of  many  aerolites  in  our  day  in  the  German 
churches.* 

The  fall  of  aerolites,  generally  accompanied  by  the  visible  lumi- 
nousness  of  the  meteor  and  an  explosion,  was  confounded  in  past 
times  with  thunder,*  and  the  popular  belief  still  is  that  the  thunder- 

*  G.  Schlegel :  Uranog,  Chifwisty  277.  *  Klaproth,  La  BaussoU,  97. 

■  Don  Juan,  i,  196.       *  The  System  of  the  Stars,  by  Agnes  M.  Gierke,  1890,  p.  87. 

*  Guignaut*s  Creuzer,  i,  90,  555. 

*  Th.  H.  Martin  :  Lafoudre  etc.  chez  Us  ancient,  175,  178,  195,  206. 


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96  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

bolt  IS  a  stone.  Bottiger^  and  F.  Lenormaht  considered  that  the 
Cretan  legend  of  the  Kronos-swallowed  divine  Zeus-stone  arose  in 
an  aerolitic  baitulos  there  adored  as  an  image  of  Zeus  or  as  Zeus 
himself.  The  stone  adored  on  Ida  appears  to  have  had  the  same 
origin.'  At  Pessinonte  a  stone  fallen  from  the  heavens  was  adored  as 
the  image  of  Cybel^,'  being  afterwards  removed  to  Rome  by  order  of 
Attalus  of  Pergamos.*  It  later  formed  the  face  of  her  statue  and 
was  silvered  over.*  It  was  small,  dark,  with  projecting  angles,  and  of 
irregular  shape  ;  an  aerolite,  doubtless.  Pindar,  seeing  a  stone  fall 
with  flames  and  noise,  devoted  it  to  the  Mother  of  the  Gods.*  "  I 
have  seen  the  baitulia  flying  in  the  heavens,"  wrote  Damascius  ; 
and  it  was  even  believed  that  the  stones  retained  after  their  fall  the 
divine  power  of  again  at  times  flying  through  the  air  in  the  midst 
of  a  globe  of  fire.  A  very  strange  (and  questionable)  instance  is 
the  colossal  emerald  of  the  temple  of  Melqarth  at  Tyre  (Herod,  ii, 
44)  which  (according  to  F.  Lenormant)  was  described  in  the  San- 
choniathon  fragments  as  a  star  which  fell  from  heaven — aepoirerff 
aa-ripa — and  was  picked  up  by  Astart^.  But  Herodotus  speaks 
of  two  columns,  the  one  of  gold,  the  other  of  "smaragd  which 
shines  by  night  mightily.**^ 

[The  Brontes,  Cerauniae,  and  Ombriae  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
are  dealt  with  later  on.] 


The  Loadstone.  Abel  Remusat,  in  the  Mhnoires  which  he 
published  in  1824,  said  that  the  polarity  of  the  loadstone  had  been 
discovered  and  put  into  operation  from  the  remotest  antiquity 
in  China,  and  this  the  Abb^  Hue  endorsed.*  But  the  earliest  use 
of  the  magnetic  needle  in  China  is  not,  as  it  seems  to  me,  to  be 
sought  for  in  a  mariner's  compass,  but  in  the  geomantic  instru- 
ment used  in  the  Feng-Shui  hocus-pocus  which  still  exercises  a 
supreme  hold  over  the  whole  nation.  This  consists  of  the  8 
glyphs  or  graphs  or  grams  or  changes  of  the  Y-King^  from  ^^^^ 

(S.  or  N.W.)  to (N.  or  S.W.),  ranged  round  a  circle,  with 

inner  compartments  indicating  planetary,  elementary,  stellar  and 
animalistic  lucky  or    disastrous  influences.     The  whole   64  (8  x 

*  Jdcen  %ur  Kunstmytk,  ii,  17.  *  Claudian,  De  rapt,  Proserp,^  i,  201. 

*  Appian.  vii,  56.     Herodian  i,  11.     Amm.  Marcell.,  xxii,  2a. 

*  Livy,  xxix,  2  ;  lo,  4  ;  II,  5,  8.  •  Arnob.  vii,  49 ;  Prudentius. 

*  Saglio,  Diet  des  Antiq,  i,  643,  644. 

'  See  also  Pliny  Hist.  Nat.  xxxvii,  5.  19 ;  Movers  Phoen.  i,  345,  8a 

*  Hue's  Travels,  i,  244. 


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Myths^  Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites  ;  B£th-Els.  97 
— ^ —       ■  — — — ^^ 

8)  of  the  doubled  or  reinforced  signs  are  sometimes  displayed  ; 
and  in  their  centre  pivots  the  magnetic  needle/  which  thus  has 
(and  may  from  an  untold  antiquity  have  had)  no  connexion  what- 
ever with  navigation,  but  only  with  Earth  (and  Heavens)  worship. 
Does  not  this  view  considerably  change  the  venue  as  to  the 
"invention"  of  the  mariner's  compass,  or  rather  move  (for  the 
first  time  ?)  a  previous  question  ? 

Klaproth  (as  I  now  find  on  this  i8th  of  May  1891)  had 
approximated  to  this  in  1834,'  but  without  formulating  a  conclu- 
sion of  the  leading  sacred  importance  that  I  am  inclined  to  lend  to 
my  own  theory. 

The  more  modem  employment  of  the  loadstone  in  China,  he  says^  was  ot 
make  compasses  with  needles  that,  either  floating  on  water  or  suitably  pivoted, 
turned  in  every  direction.  The  more  ancient  usage  was  to  employ  loadstones 
and  magnetised  iron  in  the  south- 
pointing  cars,  che  nan  k'ii  (or  ch'^) 
^  ^  ^,  on  the  axle  or  front  of 
which  pivoted  a  small  upright  figure 
carved  in  jade  or  wood,  whose  right 
arm  extended  in  front  always  pointed 
south,  by  means  of  course  of  a  mag- 
net concealed  in  that  limb.  Such  a 
wagon  always  preceded  the  chariot 
of  the  Emperor,  said  the   Tsin  chi 


*  Eitel's  FengShui^  pp.  35  1043. 

'  Lettre  k  A.  von  Humboldt  sur  la  Bousso.e,  P«  7i. 


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9^  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 

(?  shu),  and  the  Now  chow  luh  (by  Ts'ui  Paou)  says  they  were  given  as 
Emperor's  presents  to  the  great  dignitaries  of  the  kingdom  (319  to  351  A.D.). 
These  carts  or  wagons  were  also  used  in  journeys,  and  indeed  it  stands  to  reason 
that  the  land- traveller's  use  of  the  magnet  may  well  have  been  older  than  the 
mariner's.  Here  are  figured  after  Klaproth  these  little  mannequins,  one  C  the 
Chinese  in  Jade  (16  inches  high),  from  Wang  KVs  cyclopedia  the  Sanistu 
tU'hwuy  (1609) ;  the  other  J  the  Japanese,  from  the  great  Japanese  Encyclo- 
pedia (voL  33),  but  doubtless  there  copied  from  a  Chinese  print 

These  figures  were  also  used  for  laying  out  temples,  as  the 
Chinese  cyclopedia  (v.  10)  says:  "  In  the  years  Yanyow  (1314  to 
1320  A.D.)  it  was  desired  to  fix  the  aspect  of  the  monastery  of 
Yao-mu-ngan,  and  it  was  used  for  determining  its  position." 
Here,  I  think,  fengshui,  of  which  Klaproth  knew  nothing,  must  also 
come  in:  Biot^  added  that  the  cars  were  kept  in  the  imperial  palace, 
which  was  always  regularly  aspected  in  all  its  parts. 

We  seem  to  have  an  exact  parallel  to  this  Chinese  usage,  by 
which  diviners  work  the  astrological  compass  for  laying  out 
buildings,  in  the  notorious  fact  that  the  Roman  land-surveyors 
plotted  out  their  ground  exactly  in  the  same  way  as  the  augurs  did 
their  templum ;  and  it  is  pointed  out  under  the  head  of  *'  The 
North"  how  we  even  still  owe  the  cross-walks  of  our  kitchen- 
gardens  to  that  very  practice. 

But  Klaproth  also  named  the  Chinese  "  astrological  compass,"  which  shows 
the  eight  famous  Kwa  round  the  needle,  and  which  I  here  figure  after  him. 

It  is  called,  he  says,  lo  king  |^  ]Q|  or  ;^,  the  regulated  directions  ;  or  lo 
king  1^  ^  the  regulating  mirror ;  and  also  fimg  kian  ]^  j[|K  winds-mirror. 
Lo  king  is  also  used  of  the  nautical  compass.  Biot  (p.  827)  mentioned  the 
Lo'king  Kiaij  a  description  of  this  lo  king  published  in  1618,  which  Stanislas 
Julien  brought  to  his  notice. 

According  to  the  "  Grand  Mirror  of  the  Manchu  and  Chinese  Tongues," 
it  was  used  by  the  diviners  in  constructing  a  house,  to  determine  whether  its 
situation  was  happily  chosen.*  But  the  figure  I  give  is  simple  compared  with 
the  greater  compass  given  also  by  Klaproth.  Its  elaborate  complication 
forbids  reproduction  here  at  present.  It  consists,  outside  the  needle,  of  15 
concentric  circles  each  separated  by  radii  into  from  8  to  360  divisions,  making 
1 368  divisions  in  alL  Of  these  168  are  blank,  leaving  1200  with  astro-nomical  and 
-logical  characters.  Klaproth  (p.  1 16)  said  he  knew  nothing  whatever  of  the  use 
of  this  instrument. 

These  land  geomantic  or  fengshui  compasses  must  be  what  are 
called  in  Annam  and  Tonkin  d'ia  ddn,  earth-plates,  jft  jjf,  Chinese 
ti/an.^ 

'  P.  825  of  Kis  JVbU.  •  Klaproth,  tit  sup,  109. 

»  Klaproth,  ibid,  36. 


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Myths.']     Natural  Magnets;  Meteorites ;  Bith-^ls.  99 

Ed.  Biot,  who  verified  every  fact  here  compulse  by  me 
from  Klaproth/  added  some  important  facts  of  his  own  seeking  on 
this  subject  The  YUh-ftat,  a  cyclopedia  of  the  early  12th  century 
(first  printed  edition  1 351),  is  one  of  the  best  works  of  its  class, 


(Next  the  neadle  are  the  8  kwa,'  then  come  the  12  cyclic  signs  or  double-hours,  then 
their  animals,  then  the  animals*  names,  then  the  8  chief  rhumbs.) 


'  See  Biot's  Note  in  the  Cotuptes  rendus  of  the  Academic  des  Sciences  (1844),  xix, 
822  sq. 

'  It  will  be  seen  that  the  positions  here  of  the  four  which  correspond  to  the  four  on 
the  Corean  flag  in  the  section  on  ''  The  Tomoye,"  are  not  identical  with  the  positions  of 
these  last.  This  is  because  there  was  a  posterior  recasting  of  all  the  eight  in  China  by 
W6n  Wang,  which  is  the  arrangement  given  in  this  compass.  (See  both  in  Mayers*s 
Manualy  p.  385.)      The  character  J  in  the  ring  outside  the  kwa  b  shaky. 

G   2 


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loo  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

said  Wylie,*  though  requiring  to  be  read  with  discrimination.  This 
YUh'kai^  quoted  from  Han  Fei  (who  lived  in  the  3rd  century  B.C. 
said  Wylie  p.  74;  who  was  a  Taoist  philosopher  of  the  middle 
of  the  4th  century  B.C.  said  Biot  p.  824)  the  following  passage : 
**  The  ancient  sovereigns  established  sse-nan  (point-south)  to 
distinguish  the  morning-side  from  the  evening-side  "  ;  and  a  com- 
mentator adds  in  the  YUh-kat :  "  the  sse-nan  is  the  che-nan-ch'^  " 
(point-south-car).  [On  this  Biot  remarked  that  sse-nan  and  che- 
nan  are  still  employed  without  the  word  needle  (chin)  as  names  for 
the  compass.] 

Biot's  conclusion  distinctly  stated  (p.  824)  was  that  the  know- 
ledge of  the  magnetised  needle  in  China  from  at  least  the  first 
centuries  of  our  era  is  denoted  by  their  books ;  and  it  is  not 
easy  to  overestimate  the  value  of  Ed.  Biot's  opinion  on  Chinese 
matters. 

But  the  complications  of  the  Chinese  points  or  rhumbs  arc 
even  still  greater  than  above  shown,  and  the  inevitable  con- 
viction which  a  sustained  study  of  them  brings  home  is  the 
illimitable  stretch  of  time  during  which  they  must  have  been 
slowly  developing.  And  this  unavoidable  and  overwhelming  fact, 
to  which  there  is  nothing  else  of  the  kind  at  all  comparable,  gives 
in  itself  an  antiquity  of  irreversible  title  to  the  compass  that  no 
other  nation  whatever  on  the  face  of  the  globe  can  now  contest  with 
China.*  For  example  here  follows  a  tabulation  of  four  separate 
lists  of  separate  designations  of  the  points ;  which  are  in  addition  to 
the  ordinary 

E     Tung  (or  chang,  upper).     This  must  be  left, 

S     Nan  (or  tsisin,  front), 

W   Si  (or  hia,  lower).     This  must  be  right. 

N    Peh  (or  how,  dock). 
These  second  names  show  that  the  fixture  of  the  points  was 
supposed  to  be  made  in  looking  from  the  N. 

*  Notes  on  Cki.  Lit.  1867,  p.  148. 

*  In  the  section  on  Cars,  article  Sse-nan-ch*$. 

*  There  is  one  other  analogous  monument  of  archaic  cosmic  divination  in  the  tarot 
cards,  of  which  it  may  be  possible  some  day  to  treat.  Meanwhile  I  throw  out  the 
suggestion  that  they  may  have  partly  had  their  Italian  origin  from  the  Chaldaei  (as  they 
called  themselves)  who  "  worked  the  oracle  "  with  the  teachings  of  Bercsus  and  of  bis 


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Myths!]     Natural  Magnets;  Meteorites;  Beth-nls.        loi 


The  8  kwa  of 
Fu-Hi. 


E. 

Chin 

ESE. 

S.E. 

Sun 

SSE. 

S. 

Li 

ssw. 

S.W. 

Khuen 

wsw. 

w. 

Tui 

WNW. 

N.W. 

Khian 

NNW. 

N. 

Khan 

NNE. 

N.E. 

Ken 

ENE. 

The  1 6  horizons 

geographical    and 

hydrographical. 


Mao 
mao-shln 
shtn-szu 
szu-u .     . 

U 
u-weL    . 
wei-shin 
shin-yow 

Yow 
yow-siu  . 
siu-hal 
hal-tsu  . 

Tsu 
tsu-chow 


The  24  nautical 
Chow. 


I 

i 
I 
I 

15 


chow-in         ^ 


in-mao  , 


These  have  also 
another  arrangement. 


Same  as  the  Malay 
rhumbs. 


Mao 

i  S.  .     .    .  i 
4  S.  .     .     .shin 

Sun 

t  S.  .     .     .  szu 
I  S.  .     .     .  ping 

U 

4  W.      .     .  ting 
i  W.      .     .  w^ 

Khuen 

#  W.      .    .  shin 
I  W.      .     .  keng 

Yow 

i  N. .     .     .sin 

4  N. .     .     .  siu 

Khian 

IN..     .     .  hal 

«N..    .     .jm 

Tsu 

4  £.  .     .     .  kuei 
4  £.  .     .     .  chow 

Ken 

IE.,    .     ,  in 
I  E.  .    .     .  kia 


These  begin  at  the 
South. 


The  12  animal  signs. 


Mao  —  hare. 

Shin  —  dragon. 

Szu  —  serpent. 

U  —  horse. 

Wei  —  sheep. 


Shin 
Yow 
Siu 

Hal 


ape. 

cock. 

dog. 

pig- 


Tsu      —     rat. 
Chow  —     ox. 

In         ^     tiger. 


These  begin  at  the 

North- 
(used  also  in  Japan). 


Klaproth  says  (p.  71)  that  many  Chinese  authors  have  con- 
founded the  magnetiC'Car  and  the  compass,  being  followed  in 
this  error  by  Dr.  R.  Morrison's  Dictionary,  which  rendered  che 
nan  ch'd  as  "  a  compass." 

So  vast  must  be  the  antiquity  of  the  che-nan-ch'^  that  its 
invention  is  attributed  to  Hwang-Ti,^  the  fabulous  Emperor  whom 

^  In  the  Great  Annals,  T*ung  JCien  Kang  Muh,     The  Kbkinchu  gives  an  almost 
identical  account 


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T02  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  \Axis 

I  maintain  to  have  been  a  universe-god.  He  used  the  invention 
against  the  rebel  rival  power  Ch'ih  Yeo,  a  sort  of  Satan  or  Typhon, 
and  also  the  chief  of  8i  beast-bodied  />^;^-browed  man-voiced 
dust-eating  brothers.  Note  the  good  god  using  the  magnet  against 
the  evil  iron,  which  is  quite  an  Egyptian  conception.  He  pursued 
his  enemy  and  seized  him.  This  is  of  course  all  celestial  myth  ; 
and  there  is  a  further  curious  parallel  to  the  Egyptian  allegory 
in  the  legend  that  the  corpse  of  Ch*ih  Yeo  was  cut  up  (like  that 
of  Osiris)  and  its|imbs  sent  to  various  places.* 

The  invention  of  the  cars  was  also  credited  to  Chow  Kung  to  serve  in 
guiding  back  to  their  country  the  envoys  who  came  B.C.  u  lo  to  offer  homage 
from  regions  which  were,  periiaps,  those  now  knoMi^  as  Tonquin.  This  is 
treated  in  Dr.  Legge's  Shoo  Kingy  ii,  245,  as  a  fatde  devised  long  after 
date.  But  Prof.  G.  Schlegel  informs  me  that  the  annals  of  Annam  corroborate 
the  Chinese  record  as  to  this  or  a  similar  incident.*  Of  course  we  need 
not  credit  Chow  Kung  with  the  actual  invention,  but  with  the  employment 
of  the  chariots  on  this  occasion.  It  is  stated  in  Chu-Hi's  compilation  noted 
below  that  the  assertion  was  made  about  Chow  Kung  in  the  She  Ki 
(Historical  Records)  of  Sze-ma  Ts'ien  (b.c  163  to  85  ?)  but  Klaproth  (p.  82) 
could  not  find  it  there.  There  seen^s  to  have  been  another  attribution  of  new 
cars  to  a  Chang  H^ng  the  astronomer  under  the  later  Hans*  (from  A.D.  220X 
and  also  of  a  re-invention  to  Ma-Kun  a  mechanician  of  the  3rd  century  A.D, 
Kiai-fei  and  Yao.-hing  are  also  said  in  the  Treatise  on  Cerwnonies  in  the  Book 
of  Sling,  Sung'ShUy  to  have  made  such  carts  circa  A.D,  340.*  So  did  one  Tsu 
chung  chi  in  the  period  479  to  510  A.D. 

Biot  stated  (p.  824)  that  "  in  the  middle  of  the  3rd  century  of  our  era  (3rc| 
year  of  ts'ing-lung,  A.D.  235)  the  annals  of  Wei  mention  the  cars  indicators  of 
the  South,  made  aftjer  the  model  of  the  prececling  dynasty,  that  of  the  Han, 
These  oars  are  dted  in  the  ofEdal  history  of  the  Tsin  dynasty  which  reigned 
from  265  to  419  of  our  era  ;  in  that  of  the  Tartar  prince  Shi-hu  who  occupied 
the  North  of  China  from  335  to  349  ;  and  finally  in  the  official  history  of  the 
first  Sung  dynasty,  which  reigned  in  the  South  from  420  to  477,  The  cars  arq 
described  anew,  said  Riot  continuing,  in  the  reigns  of  the  Emperors  Hien  Tsung 
(806  to  820  A.D.)  and  J^n  Tsung,  under  the  crates  1027  and  1053. 

So  much  as  to  the  land-compass- wagon  that  may  have  preceded 
the  ship-compass.  But  there  is  in  K'ang  Hi's  modem  Dictionary, 
and  in  many  other  Chinese  dictionaries,  a  quotation  from  the 
earliest  dictionary  (by  radicals)  called  the  Shw^  w&n  (by  Hiii 
Shin,  A.D.  100)  which  under  the  character  Tsze  •?  defines  the  word 
as  '*  the  name  of  a  stone  with  which  the  needle  is  directed,"  S  ^  "^f 

*  T'^uf^  Kien  Kang  MUh  (superintcDded  by  Chn  Hi  himselO- 

*  Coun  (fhistoire  Annamite  par  P.  J.  B.  Tniong-VKnh-Ky,  Saigon,  1875,  *»  ^  '* 

•  Ts'ui-Pao*s  Ko-Kin^Chu  (Ancient  and  Modem   Commentary,  '4th  century  A.D.j, 
authenticity  doubtful). 

♦  Klaproth,  85,  9a 


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MythsJ]     Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites ;  Bith-Els.        103 

£1  51  Ijjt-^  The  Pei  wdn  yun  fu  (171 1),  the  most  extensive 
lexicon  ever  published  (no  thick  volumes)  says  there  were  during 
the  Tsin  dynasty  (265  to  419  A.D.)  ships  indicating  the  south.* 

Gaubil*  pointed  out  a  passage  in  the  Mung  kH  pdh  fan,  a 
firstrate  book  of  the  nth  century,  which  Biot  (p.  825)  gave  in  full : 
"  Diviners  rub  a  needle  with  the  loadstone  ;  then  it  can  mark  the 
South.  Still  it  constantly  declines  a  little  to  the  East ;  it  does  not 
indicate  the  exact  South.  When  this  needle  floats  on  water  it  is 
much  shaken  ;  it  is  better  to  hang  it  They  take  a  new  cotton 
thread  and  with  a  little  wax  fix  it  to  the  exact  middle  of  the  needle, 
and  hang  it  where  there  is  no  wind  ;  then  the  needle  continuously 
shows  the  South.  Among  these  needles  are  some  which  being 
rubbed  mark  the  North."  [This  statement  shows  that  the  compiler 
had  no  practical  technical  knowledge,  for  it  is  absurd  in  itself. 
"  Our  diviners  have  some  which  mark  the  South,  and  others  which 
mark  the  North,"  or,  may  this  have  been  part  of  the  patter 
of  these  jugglers?]  "Of  this  property  which  the  loadstone 
possesses  for  showing  the  South  (as  the  cypress  shows  the  West) 
no  one  has  been  able  to  give  the  origin."    (Bk.  24,  Tsa-ski.) 

Klaproth  (p.  67)  gave  the  first  sentence  of  the  above  but  took  it  at  second- 
hand from  the  Pei  wdn  yun  fu  already  mentioned.  Part  of  the  remainder  he 
quoted  from  the  Pun  ts^aouyan  /,  a  medical  natural -history  by  Kow  tsung  shi* 
dating  from  a.d.  i  i  i  i  or  i  1  i  7.  In  the  Chtnla  ( =  Cambodia) y^/i^  fu  ki^  a  des- 
cription of  Cambodia  and  a  voyage  thereto  by  Chow  Takwan  in  A.D.  1295, 
the  ship's  course  is  always  indicated  by  the  chin  or  rhumbs  ^  of  the  compass 
as  shown  in  column  3  on  p.  loi. 

The  great  superiority  of  the  Chinese  mariner's  compass  to  any  then  known 
in  Europe  was  pointed  out  by  Sir  John  Barrow  in  1797* ;  the  manner  in  which 
the  needle  was  hung  quite  defeating  the  vertical  dip,  and  the  pivoting  arrangement 
being  both  complex  and  perfect  These  were  not  water-compasses,  but  they  too 
must  have  been  ancient  in  China,  and  had  clearly  gone  out  of  use  in  the  end  of 
the  1 6th  century,  when  the  Wu  isa  tsu  cyclopedia  said  that  the  compass  was 
generally  used,  but  that  diviners  still  worked  with  chin  pan  or  plates,  the  needle 
of  which  rested  on  water.* 

The  Sinico-Japanese  name  for  the  magnet  is  the  Chinese  -^  ^  tsu-shih 
love-stone,  which  in  Japan  is  pronounced  ji-shaku  ;  the  loadstone  itself  they  even 
call  jishaku-seki,  where  seki  is  a  re-duplication,  for  it  =  shaku  =  stone.    Klaproth 

*  I  here  revise  Klaproth  by  Ed.  Biot,  and  add  that  the  Japanese  dictionary  Shin-sd 
jibiki  gives  for  -^  the  meaning  tsugu-nan  ji  =  tellsouth  time. 

*  Klaproth,  66,  67 ;  Biot,  824.     '  Astrommic  Chinoise^  p.  100.     *  Klaproth,  68,  95. 
'  Embassy  to  Emperor  of  China,  by  Sir  G.  Staunton,  i,  441.         •  Klaproth,  97. 

'  This  is  the  character  in  the  Shin-sd  jibiki  and  in  Hepburn's  Diet,   Prof.  Douglas  points 
out  that  it  ought  to  be  (in  Chinese)  ^  and  that  is  the  character  Klaproth  used  (p.  21). 


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104  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  \Axt$ 

gave  a  pure  Japanese  name  for  the  loads  tone,  hari-suri  febi  (he  mis-wrote  it  fori 
soufi  issi)  =  needle-rubbing  stone,  which  I  do  not  find  elsewhere.  Shi  nan, 
which  he  gave  (as  si  nan)  for  the  Chinese  che  nan  ^  ^  point-south,  is  not  a 
Japanese  word  for  the  compass,  so  far  as  I  know  ;  that  is  merely  how  a  Japanese 
would  read  those  Chinese  words  ;  and  in  fact  th?  Sinico- Japanese  word  shinan, 
written  with  those  characters,  means  oshiye,  that  is  teaching  or  instruction.  The 
same  must  be  said  fbr  Klaproth*s  kaku  ban  (he  printed  kak  ban)  as  represent- 
ing the  Chinese  keh  ^^^  |Sf  %  )  ^^  rakiy6  as  representing  lo  king  ;  and  for 
ji  shin  (Klaproth*s  zi  sin)  as  representing  tsu  chin  =  love-needle.  And  Klaprotb 
in  giving  ii  siak-Jio  fan  as  a  translation  of  this  tsu  chin  did  not  know  that  it  was 
really  ji^sh^ku  no  hari  the  needle  of  the  X,^\x-shih,  of  the  love-stone,  as  above, 
I  also  find  tetsu-sui  ishi  (iron-$uqkin^  stone)  for  ji-shaku  in  the  Japanese 
Dictionary  called  Shin-sd  jibiki ,  I  have  also  pointed  out,  under  the  heading  of 
"The  Number  Eight,"  the  archaic  mythic  place-name  Idra-shi,  magic-stone, 
as  being  possibly  intended  for  the  magnet.  The  vulgar  name  of  tokei,  given  by 
the  Japanese  Wakan  Sanzai  dzu  ye  for  the  compass,  means  really  a  watch  or 
clock,  and  the  reason  of  the  confusion  is  obvious  to  anyone  who  compares 
their  dial-plates  with  their  compass-rhumbs.  H6bari,  directions-needle  -jj  j^^ 
is  the  Qommon  term  far  the  compass  ;  and  rashim  ban  j^  ^  '^  (where 
shim  =  shin  =  hari,  needle)  is  a  scientific  term  for  a  mariner's  or  "  field 
compass.'**    Rashin  =  magnetic  needle.' 

The  Japanese  statements  about  the  guide-carts,  shirube-kuruma,  which 
Klaproth  quoted  from  the  JVaJi  sAi  QsLpSinese  Things  origin;  of  1696,  which 
again  quoted  from  the  Nihongi  (Ja^pan-Chronicfe,  A.D.  720),  are  unimportant 
and  look  like  borrowings  from  Chinese  records.  The  first  is  under  the  date  of 
A.D.  658  (4th  year  of  the  Mikado  Saimei)  and  says  that  Chi  Yu,  a  shamin  or 
Buddhist  priest,|made  a  ^  ^  ^  (which  are  the  Chinese  characters  fbr  cbc 
nan  k*u  or  ch'^,  paint-soutli-cart).  Under  the  year  666  (5th  year  of  Tenji)  it  is 
again  stated  that  the  Chinese  shamon  Chi  Yu  offered  ^  similar  cart.  The 
Japanese  translation  of  che  nan  k'ii  here  is  given  as  shirube  kuruma  =  shpw- 
way  cart  (and  shirube  in  Japan  is  written  ^  •§).  It  is  the  name  Chi  Yu 
however  ths^t  suggests  kx  betrays  the  source^  In  the  first  case  it  is  written 
^  l^f  ^'^^  ^°  ^^  second  ^  ^  (?  source  of  wisdom),  but  it  sounds  like  a 
garbling  of  the  Chinese  Ch'ih  Yeo,  ^  ^,  whose  myth  wp  haye  hafl  befo^re, 
and  into  whose  i^mp  the  character  for  mountain  ^|  enters 

No  literary  record  pf  the  use  of  the  mariner's  compass  in  Europe  goes 
farther  back  than  the  end  of  the  12th  century.  In  the  satirical  poem  called 
La  BibUy  by  Guyot  de  Provins  (circa  1 190),  the  magpiet  is  mentioned  as  "  une 
pierre  laide  et  bruni^re,^  ou  li  fers  volontiers  se  joint,"  (with  which  iron  readily 
unites).  He  describes  (for  a  comparison)  how  a  needle,  when  touched  wilh  the 
loadstone  and  fixed  in  a  straw  or  chip  (festu)  floating  on  the  water,  turns  its 
point  right  against  (toute  contrc)  The  Star  ;  that  is  the  polestar.  He  mentions 
the  lighting  up  of  the  ship's  needle  also  (after  dark).  But  this  describes  no 
in  Antion,  but  is  a  mere  ordinary  allusion  in  a  poem  to  a  well-known  fact, 

*  Hepburn,  4th  ed,  t§88. 


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Myths.']     Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites ;  Bith-^ls         '©S 

Jacques  de  Vitry  in  his  Description  de  la  Palestine  (1218  ?)  also  made  a  passing 
reference  to  the  adamas  as  touching  a  pointed  iron  which  turned  to  the  north 
star,  whence  it  was  very  necessary  to  navigators  on  sea.*  Again,  towards  1260 
the  grammarian  Brunetto  Latini,  Dante's  teacher,  wrote  his  Trisor  in  French  ; 
and  therein  mentioned  a  needle  d'yamant,  which  is  calamite,  that  turns  its  ends 
north  and  south,  adding  that  mariners  must  carefully  note  these  ends  lest  they 
be  deceived.  Brunetto  was  in  England,  and  seems  to  have  been  shown  his 
first  magnet  and  magnetised  needle  by  Roger  Bacon  at  Oxford.  This  was 
before  he  wrote  his  Tresor^  and  he  described  it  in  a  letter  which  was  published 
in  the  Monthly  Magazine  for  June  1802  ;  but  the  words  of  his  description  are 
a  clos^  prose  equivalent  of  the  passage  in  La  Bible,  No  one  seems  to  have 
detected  this,  but  either  Brunetto  drew  op  La  Bible  or  else  (which  is  perhaps 
equally  probable)  he  and  Guyot  drew  on  some  previous  identical  source.  As 
this  is  of  some  import,  and  as  I  shall  want  them  again  for  the  section  on  "  The 
Poles  tar  '*  I  give  the  two  passages  in  full. 

"  Pe  nostfe  P^re  PApostoile?  |  vousisse  qu'il  semblast  I'Estoile  |  qui  ne  se 
me(it ;  mout  bien  la  yoieqt  |  li  marinier  qui  si  navoient'  |  Par  cele  Estoile  vont 
et  viennent,  |  et  lor  sens  et  lor  voie  tjenent  |  II  I'appellent  la  Tresmpntaigne*  \ 
Celleestatachieetcertaine;  |  toutes  les  autres  se  removent,  |  et  lor  Jeus*  eschan- 
gent  et  muevent,  |  mais  cele  estoile  ne  se  meut.  | 

Un  art  font  qui  mentir  ne  puet,  |  par  la  vertu  de  la  maniere,*  \  Une  fi^rre 
laide  et  brunihre^  \  oii  li  fers  volontiers  se  joints  \  ont ;  si  esgardept  le  drpit 
point  I  Puis  c'une  aguile  i  ont  touchie,  |  et  en  un  festu  Pontfichie^  \  en  Pesve  la 
mettent  sanz  plus,  |  et  //  festus  la  tient  desusj  \  puis  se  torne  la  poinie  toute  | 
contre  r^stoile^  si  sanz  doute'  |  que  ja  nus.hom  n'en  doutera,  |  ne  ja  por  rien 
ne  faussera.  |  Quant  la  mer  est  obscure  et  brune,  \  (fon  ne  voit  estoile  ne  lune^  I 
dont  font  k  Paiguille  alumer  ;  |  puis  n'ont  il  garde  d'esgarer. 

Contre  I'Estoile  va  la  pointe  ;  |  por  ce  sont  //  marinier  cointe  |  de  la  droite 
voie  tenir ;  |  c'est  un  ars  qui  ne  peut  fallir.  |  Molt  est  I'Estoile  et  bele  et  clere ;  | 
tiex  devroit  estre  nostre  P^re."     [La  Bible^  by  iiuyot  d.e  Proyjns,  circa  a,d, 
1 190.     M6on,  Fabliaux^  ii,  328.] 

"  II  [Roger  Bacon]  n)je  montra  la  magnete,  fiierre  laide  et  noire ^  ob  ele  Je^ 
volontiers  se  joint,  L'on  touche  ob  une  aiguiHet,  et  en  festue  Pon  fichej  pui^ 
Ton  met  en  Paigue^  et  se  tient  d^ssuSy  et  la  pointe  se  toume  contre  P Estoile. 
Quant  la  nuitfut  tembrousy  et  Pon  r^  voie  estoille  ni  lune^  poiet  //  marinier  tenir 
droite  voie"    [Brunetto  Latini's  letter,  before  a.d.  126a] 

This  "  ugly  and  black  "  description  may  con>e  down  from  the  fifth  Idyll  of 
Claudianus  (circa  400  A.D.),  where  the  stone  is  mentioned  in  these  words  : 
"  l^pis  est  cognomine  Magnes,  decolor,  Qbscurus,  vilis."  Clauiianus  also 
versified  the  ancient  theory  that  the  magnet  lived  on  iron,  which  renewed  its 
strength. 

To  these  I  add  the  passage  frpm  the  Bishop  of  Acre,  Jacques  de  Vitry 

>  Historiae  Hierosolimitanae,  cap.  89.  *  The  Pope.  '  ainsi  naviguent, 

*  In  another  MS.  **  la  tres-montaine  ;"  and  he  also  calls  it  tresmontaine  at  line  827. 
I  fear  I  shall  not  have  the  important  13th  century  Dit  de  la  Tresmontaigne  in  my  hands 
)n  tin)e  to  extend  tliis  note. 

*  lieu^.  •  In  another  MS.  **  la  manete."    M.  Paulin  Pftris  made  it  ramaniere. 
7  so  undoub^ly. 


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I 


io6  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

(i  180-1240?)  :  Adamas  in  India  reperitur  .  .  .  femim  occulta  quidam  naturi 
ad  se  trahit.  Acus  ferrea  postquam  adamantem  contigerit,  ad  Stellam  Septen- 
trionalem  (quae  velut  axis  firmamenti,  aliis  vergentibus,  non  movetur)  semper 
convertitur  ;  unde  valde  necessarius  est  navigantibus  in  rnari  [Historian  Hieroso- 
limitanae^  cap.  89,  circa  A.D.  121 8]. 

Tiraboschi's  "  Italian  Literature"  (iv,  171),  had  fully  established  in  Hallam's 
opinion  that  the  polarity  of  the  Magnet  was  well-known  in  the  13th  century  ; 
and  a  poet  of  that  period,  Guido  Guinizzelli,  had  the  following  lines  : 

In  quelle  parti  sotto  Tramontana 

sono  li  monti  della  Calamita,* 

che  dan  virtute  all'  aere 

di  trarre  il  ferro  ;  ma  perch^  lontana 

vole  di  simil  pietra  aver  aita, 

a  far  la  adoperare, 

e  dirizzar  lo  ago  in  ver  la  Stella.* 
Klaproth"  was  convinced  that  the  aquatic  compass  was  written  of  as  early  as 
1242  among  the  Arabs  as  a  thing  generally  known  ;  and  he  quoted  The  Mer- 
chant's Treasure  of  Stonelore,  by  Bailak  of  Kibjak  (a.d.  1282),  who  de  visu 
described  the  needle  of  the  Syrian  pilots  as  "  facing  by  its  two  points  the  South 
and  the  North."  Bailak  had  also  heard  of  a  hollow  iron  fish  used  for  the  same 
purpose  by  the  ship-captains  of  the  Indian  seas.  We  have  already  had  a 
mention  of  the  aquatic  compass  in  China  in  1 1 17,  which  is  the  earliest  by  some 
80  years  of  all  modern  dates  about  the  subject 

Nala  a  monkey-god  has  in  the  Rdmdyana  the  power  of  making  stones  float 
in  water.  A  too  vivid  imagination  might  here  pretend  to  see  a  natural-magnet 
floated  (on  timber?)  so  as  to  admit  of  its  northing. 


"  Meckel  arrives  quite  empirically  and  impartially  at  the  conclusion  that 
vegetative  existence  in  animals,  the  first  growth  of  the  embryo,  the  assimilation 
of  nourishment,  and  plant-life,  ought  all  properly  to  be  considered  as  manifes- 
tations of  the  Will ;  nay  that  even  the  inclinations  of  the  magnetic  needle  seem 
to  be  something  of  the  same  kind."*  I  take  that  passage  from  Schopenhauer's 
Will  in  Nature^  where  Schopenhauer  says  it  is  just  possible  the  general  idea 
of  Meckel  may  have  been  taken  from  him,  Schopenhauer.  I  should  rather 
believe  that,  as  to  the  natural  magnet,  it  first  arose  as  an  idea  of  a  deus 
absconditus  in  pre-historic  times. 

One  of  my  important  facts  here  is  the  extreme  holiness  of  the 
natural  magnet,  that  is  of  magnetic  iron-ore  in  Egypt.  It  was 
supposed  to  come  from  Horus. 

Dr.   Birch  gave  baa-n-pet  J  \  ^  ^Jj^  P  ^j  (Coptic,  benipi,  penipe)  as 

*  See  p.  129  infra, 

*  Guinguene,  Hist,  Littir,  de  tltalie^  i>  4I3»  See  also  Hist,  Litt,  de  la  France^  par 
les  B^n^ictins,  xviii,  813. 

'  Utsup.  pp.  57,  64.  *  Archiv,fur  die  Physiologie  (\%\^\  v,  195-198. 

ind  Sons  (1889),  p.  248. 


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Myths.']     Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites  ;  BHh-Els.       107 

ferrum  ;»  but  Dev^ria  said  it  was  "  aimant,  pierre  d'aimant,  fer  aimant^e.'** 
Does  the  determinative  for  heaven  \  \  also  embrace  here  the  meteoric 
heaven-fallen  idea  ;  or  only,  with  \^,  imply  the  northern  heavens  ?  Dev^ria 
and  Chabas  said  baa  J  1  ^  ^  jfi  was  iron. 

A  result  of  this  reverence  was  the  evil  reputation  of  non- 
magnetic iron  which,  although  known  in  Egypt  from  the  highest 
antiquity,  had  always  been  rare.  It  belonged  to  the  evil  god  Set, 
and  was  therefore  employed  in  some  liturgies,  which  must  have 
been  those  of  black  magic,  for  it  could  not  be  used  in  common  life 
without  contempt  for  sacred  things,  and  thus  with  great  repug- 
nance.* It  must  be  concluded  from  this  that  the  possibility  of 
magnetising  iron  \yas  unknown  when  these  fancies  took  their  deep 
roots. 

Iron,  says  Maspero,*  was  pure  or  impure  according  to  circum- 
stances. Some  traditions  made  it  evil,  and  the  "  bones  of  Typhon ;" 
others  said  it  was  the  very  substance  of  the  canopy  of  heaven, 
baa-n-pet  =  celestial  metal.  But  Th^odule  Dev^ria  gave  the 
obvious  explanation  of  this  last  when  he  said  baa-n-pet,  iron  of 
heaven,  must  be  meteoric  ironstone,  M.  Maspero  thinks  the  rare 
finding  of  iron  objects  in  Egypt  is  due  not  to  its  ancient  absence 
but  because  it  has  got  oxidised  away  in  the  lapse  of  time.  But 
this  is  not  a  sufficing  reason.  Manethon*  called  the  magnet 
(a'i8r)f>lTi<;  Xifio?)  the  bone  of  Horus,  and  iron  (aiSrjpo<;)  the  bone  of 
Typhon. 

Mr.  King  figured  17  "  gnostic  gems  "  cut  on  loadstones  (haeniatite  ?)  in  his 
T^  Gnostics  (1864). 

In  order  to  show  how  the  superstitions  about  the  loadstone 
stood  among  the  savants  of  250  years  ago,  I  condense  from  Van 
Boot's  Le  Parfaict  loaillier  (Lyons,  1644,  pp.  564,  &c.)  as  follows : — 

By  reason  of  the  admirable  nature,  by  which  it  appears  animated^  and  by 
which  it  knows  the  regions  of  the  heavens  .  .  .  the  aimant  [the  French  term  is 
purposely  retained]  ought  with  justice  and  reason  to  be  preferred  to  all  other 
precious  stones.  The  part  of  the  ajmant  which  repulses  and  throws  off  iron  was 
called  theamede^  by  the  ancients  and  ein  Bleser  in  Germany.  There  was 
believed  to  be  a  male  and  a  female  aimant  [which  is  not  so  very  far  off  our 

»  Other  fonns  arc  J  q  \  ^  ^   and    J  H  \  D_  f.     (Wallis-Budge). 

*  Pierret,  Vocab.  119,  120.  •  Th.  Dev^ria  :  Le  fer  tt  V aimant, 

^  Egypt,  Arch.  (Edwards),  191.  *  Pidot's  Frag,  Hist,  Grac,  ii,  613. 

*  See  what  is  said  later  on  as  to  sacre^  words  {n  the-  (consult  Index) ;  and  the 
]Sgyptian  beliefs  as  to  magnet  and  iron,  just  above,     Theamedes  was  suppose^]  also  to  be 

he  toum^ahne ;  and  see  J*liny,  xxxvi,  16,  25. 


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108  The  Night  of  the  Gods. '  {Axis 

modem  terms  of  positive  and  negative  electricity.].  The  aimant  showed  the 
quarters  (plages)  of  the  world,  and  attracted  iron,  or  else  the  iron's  better  part, 
which  is  steel.  Many  thought  that  it  sought  the  iron  because  it  fed  upon  it, 
and  so  was  conserved,  and  even  increased  its  force  :  which  was  proved  true  by 
experiment ;  for  when  buried  in  iron  filings  the  aimant  became  more  lively  and 
efficient,  the  filings  changing  little  by  little  to  rust.  It  knew  and  felt  the  diver- 
sity of  parts  and  directions.  Van  Boot  said  also :  "  I  doubt,  for  my  part, 
whether  the  aimant  tends  to  the  Pole  or  to  the  Axis  ;  and  it  seems  more  like 
the  truth  that  it  tends  to  the  Axis,  because  of  its  divers  declinations." 

Paracelsus  used  it  in  surgical  plasters,  because  of  its  power  of  drawing 
iron  ;  and  it  cured  in  a  very  short  time  all  sword-wounds  whether  of  edge  or 
point  But  this  plaster  was  a  complex  one,  consisting  kA  beeswax,  resin,  olive- 
oil  and  chelidoine  ;  oak-leaf  juice,  alchimilje  juice,  and  veronica  juice  ;  ammo- 
niac, galbanum,  and  opopanax  ;  colophonia,  amber,  mastic,  myrrh,  incense,  and 
sarcocoUe ;  saffron  of  Mars,  saffron  of  Venus,  prepared  thutia,  and  calaminary 
stone  ;  vitriol  and  powdered  lotidstone. 

Aristotle  indeed,  added  Van  Boot's  commentator,  Andrew  Toll,  was  not 
ignorant  that  the  loadstone  possessed  the  faculty  of  attracting  iron,  but  he  was 
wholly  ignorant  that  it  was  proper  for  navigation.  [This  comes  from  an  Arabic 
pseudo- Aristotle.] 

We  do  not  seem  to  have  advanced  much  since  then.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  the  address  of  the  President  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, Dr.  J.  Hopkinson,  on  9th  January,  1890 : 

The  President,  in  his  inaugural  address,  which  was  op  the  subject  of 
"  Magnetism,"  discussed  Poisson's  hypothesis  that  each  molecule  of  a  magnet 
contained  two  magnetic  fluids  which  are  separated  from  each  other  under  the 
influence  of  magnetic  force.  But  this  theory  gives  no  hint  that  there  is  a  limit 
to  the  magnetisation  of  iron — a  point  of  saturation  ;  none  of  hysteresis  ;  no 
hint  of  any  connexion  between  the  magnetism  of  iron  and  any  other  property 
of  that  substance  ;  no  hint  why  magnetism  disappears  at  a  high  temperature. 
It  does  however  give  more  than  a  hint  that  the  permeability  of  iron  cannot 
exceed  a  limit  much  less  than  its  actual  value  ;  and  that  it  must  be  constant 
for  the  materia],  and  independent  of  the  force  applied, 

Weber's  theory,  which  was  a  very  distinct  advance  on  Poisson's,  thoroughly 
explains  the  limiting  value  of  magnetisation,  since  nothing  more  could  be  done 
than  to  direct  all  the  molecular  axes  in  the  same  direction.  But  Weber's  theory 
does  not  touch  the  root  of  the  matter  by  connecting  the  magnetic  property  with 
any  other  property  of  iron,  nor  does  it  give  any  hint  as  to  why  the  moment  of 
the  moleculi  disappears  so  rapidly  at  a  certain  temperature. 

Ampere's  theory  might  be  said  to  be  a  development  of  Weber's  ;  but  so  far 
as  he  (the  President)  knew,  nothing  that  has  ever  been  proposed  even  attempts 
to  explain  the  fundamental  anomaly,  "  Why  do  iron,  nickel,  and  cobalt  possess 
a  property  which  .we  have  found  nowhere  else  in  Nature  ?"  It  might  be  that 
at  a  lower  temperature  other  metals  would  be  magnetic,  but  of  this  we  have  at 
present  no  indication.  For  the  present  the  magnetic  properties  of  iron,  nickel, 
and  cobalt  stand  exceptional  as  a  breach  of  that  continuity  which  we  are  in  the 
habit  of  regarding  as  a  well-proved  law  of  Nature.— (J/(C?r^//i^  Post^  io/i/9a) 


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Myths ^     Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites ;  BHh-hls.        109 

The  late  Mr.  Croll*  quoted  quite  recently  from  Sir  Henry  Roscoethe  theory 
that  internal  "  masses  of  metallic  iron  may  go  far  to  explain  the  well-known 
magnetic  condition  of  our  planet."  This  may  account  for  the  Earth's  being 
a  possible  magnet ;  but  of  course  not  one  little  bit  for  a  magnet  (Earth  or  other) 
being  magnetic. 

Mesmer  expounded  that  his  subtle  fluid,  the  general  agent  of  all  changes 
in  the  Cosmos,  in  its  properties  much  resembled  the  loadstone.  He  therefore 
called  his  bodily  effluvium  or  influence  "Animal  Magnetism."  The  Jesuit 
astronomical  professor  Maximinius  Hell,  the  Hungarian  (1720- 1792),  vaunted  his 
cures  by  the  agency  of  magnetised  iron. 

In  the  g*'^''^^(K -^^^'^w  (of  all  places  in  the  world)  for  July  1890  is  the 
following  :  "  There  is  nothing  inherently  absurd  in  supposing  that  living 
creatures  possess  a  property  analogous  to  magnetism,  by  virtue  of  which  they 
may  act  and  react  on  each  other  ;  and  there  is  not  a  little  in  the  most  recent 
experiments,  particularly  those  with  magnets,  which  go  some  way  towards 
proving  it." 

But  listen  to  the  bonimeni  now  pattered  by  the  hypnotic  mystifiers  who 
ensleep  others  while  resting  very  wide-awake  themselves.  "  If  the  hypnotised 
subject  in  a  state  of  lethargy  grasps  the  North  pole  of  a  magnet,  he  is  filled 
with  intense  joy,  and  sees  beautiful"  (!)  "flames  issuing  from  the  end  of  the 
magnet.  If,  however,  he  is  connected  with  the  South  pole  he  is  profoundly 
miserable,  and  usually  flings  the  magnet  away  in  horror."* 

Do  I  sleep,  do  I  dream,  or  is  Visions  about  ? 

We  know  very  well  that  Borrow  is  not  a  witness  that  can  safely  be  called 
to  prove  very  much  more  than  his  own  breezy  and  inventive  genius,  but  he  said 
that  "if  the  Gitinos  in  general  be  addicted  to  any  one  superstition,  it  is 
certainly  with  respect  to  la  bar  lachiy  the  loadstone,  to  which  they  attribute 
all  kinds  of  miraculous  powers."*  Elsewhere  he  says  they  looked  on  the 
book  of  his  "  Gypsy  Luke  "  in  the  light  of  a  charm  ;  every  woman  "  wished  to 
have  one  in  her  pocket,  especially  in  thieving  expeditions.  Some  even  went  so 
Deu*  as  to  say  that  it  was  as  efficacious  as  the  bar  lachiy  which  they  are  in  general 
so  desirous  of  possessing."  Vaillant*  calls  it  bar  i  lashiy  in  the  "langue 
Rommane  des  Sigans,"  bar  meaning  stone,  but  he  does  not  translate  the  rest, 
unless  ilashi,  like  ileski,  means  "  of  the  heart,  cordial." 

Borrow  goes  on  to  say  that  the  Spanish  Gypsy-smugglers  and  horsecopers 
arc  particularly  anxious  for  a  loadstone,  which  they  carry  on  them  in  their 
ventures.  It  causes  clouds  of  dust  to  rise  and  conceal  them  from  the  pursuing 
police  or  gaugers.  They  always  succeed  when  they  have  this  precious  stone 
about  thenL  They  also  lend  it  occult  erotic  virtues,  and  Gypsy  women  will  do 
anything  to  get  such  stones  in  their  natural  state,  which  is  difficult.  Borrow 
stated  that  many  attempts  had — ^he  wrote  about  1839— been  made  by  them  to 
steal  a  large  piece  of  American  loadstone  from  the  Madrid  museum.    Their 

'  SUllar  Evolution,  hy  ]9mes  Croll,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  1889,  p.  12. 
'  Fortnightly  Review ,  August  1890. 

»  The Zincali  (1888),  pp.   185,  199.     "Brother,"  said  a  Spanish  Gypsy-woman  to 
Borrow,  "you  tell  as  strange  things,  though  perhaps  you  do  not  lie"  (ibid.,  131). 
*  Grammaire,  Paris  1861,  97. 


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"o  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

loadstone  philter  is,  he  said,  its  powder  swallowed  in  ardent  spirits  at  bedtime, 
while  a  magic  rhyme  is  repeated  about  three  black  kids,  three  carts,  three  black 
cheeses,  and  the  loadstone. 

The  gypsy  name  seems  to  be  parallel  perhaps  to  the  Malayan  bitu  barini 
or  brini  =  courage-stone.* 

There  is  a  curious  passage  in  the  fragments  of  Xanthos'  which  says  that  the 
Magnetes  {Le,  that  people)  regarded  Magnus  (or  the  magnet  ?)  as  evil,  because 
he  inspired  the  Magnesian  women  with  love. 

I  think  the  myth  of  Mahomet's  coffin  must  undoubtedly  be  not 
only  magnetic  but  cosmic,  that  is  some  very  archaic  symbolic 
allegory  of  the  suspension  of  the  Earth  (in  which  Mahomet  was 
buried  at  Medina)  in  space,  between  the  N.  and  S.  celestial 
magnetic  poles.  The  pious  Moslem  belief  that  the  coffin  is  upheld 
by  4  angels   tells   for  this    cosmic    theory  (see  "The   Cardinal 

Points"). 

Though  I  have  never  met  with  this  cosmic  suggestion,  the  idea 
about  the  manner  of  the  suspension  of  the  coffin  by  magnetic  force 
is  by  no  means  novel.  It  will  be  found  in  van  Boot's  (=  Anselmi 
Boetii)  Historia  gemmarum  et  lapidum^  And  Pliny*  in  -A.D.  J  J 
told  a  tale  that  Dinocrates,  the  famous  architect  and  engineer  of 
Alexander  and  of  Alexandria,  circa  280  B.C.,  had  projected  building 
of  loadstone  the  vault  of  the  temple  of  Arsino^  ("Venus 
Zephyritis,"  daughter  of  Lysimachus,  and  first  wife  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus)  so  as  thus  to  support  in  mid-air  the  iron  statue  of 
Egypt's  deified  queen.  Two  other  resemblant  (Chinese)  legends 
are  told  of  the  tombs  of  Confucius  and  Chu-Ko  Liang. 

In  nearer  times,  Tsong-Kaba,  the  reformer  of  the  Thibetan  Lamas,  became 
Buddha  in  1419 ;  and  his  coffin,  in  the  Lamasery  of  Khaldan,  remains  un- 
supported, save  by  perennial  miracle,  a  little  way  above  the  ground.* 

*  Klaproth*s  Boussole^  p.  22.        ^  No.  19,  p.  40  of  Didot's  Frag,  Hist,  Crac.  vol.  i. 
■  1598  (?)  ii,  cap.  254,  *  Nat.  hist,  xxxiv,  14.  *  Hazlitt's  Hue,  ii,  50. 


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Myths.']    Natural  Magnets;  Meteorites ;  Bith-^is,        m 


JDtlTH-tlLS,  The  fragments  of  Sanchoniathon  (as  translated 
"^^^by  Philo)  say  that  Ouranos  the  father  of  Kronos  also  had  a  son 
named  BervXo?,  which  Frangois  Lenormant  put  back  into  Phoeni- 
cian as  B^th-iil ;  and  again  it  is  said  that  Ouranos  "  invented 
BatTuXia,  manufacturing  animated  stones.  The  myths  of  AatAaXo9 
(divided-stone  ?  and  will  that  explain  SaL-fuov,  BaL-/iovo<;  as  a  dual- 
one?)  and  Pygmalion  making  animated  statues  are  parallel. 

M.  Maspero  says  of  the  Egyptian  sacred  statues  that  "  they  were  animated 
and,  in  addition  to  their  bodies  of  stone  metal  or  wood,  had  each  a  soul  magic- 
ally derived  from  the  soul  of  the  divinity  they  represented.  They  spoke  moved 
acted,  not  metaphorically  but  actually."* 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  decide,  writes  Dr.  J.  J.  M  de  Groot,*  whether  a 
Chinaman  views  the  tablets  of  his  ancestors  (Ke-Shin-pai,  family-soul-plank)  as  the 
dwelling  of  one  of  the  three  souls  (compare  the  Egyptian  ba,  ka,  and  khu)  which 
they  give  to  every  human  being,  or  only  as  a  visible  souvenir  of  the  dead.  But 
certain  ceremonies  after  a  death  evidently  have  the  object  of  inviting  the  soul  of 
the  dead  to  come  and  inhabit  the  tablet.  The  son  in  a  loud  voice  invites 
eth  soul  of  the  dead  father  to  come  out  from  the  tomb  j^  Jjj  and  pass  into  the 
tablet    (See  Manalis  lapis,  p.  ii8.) 

These  statements  of  Sanchoniathon  cannot  be  kept  separate 
from  the  Cretan  myth,  first  found  in  Hesiod,  that  Rhea  deceived 
Kronos  with  a  stone  wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes  (Pausanias  viii, 
8)  when  he  was  about  to  devour  the  "lov  of  Philo- Sanchoniathon, 
the  Jove  of  later  times. 

In  the  temple  of  Hfirfi  at  Plataea  of  Boidtia  was  a  statue  of 
Rhea  presenting  Kronos  with  the  stone  wrapped  in  swaddling- 
clothes,  and  near  Delphos*  was  the  stone  itself,  afterwards  vomited 
by  Kronos,  which  was  anointed  with  oil  every  day,  and  covered 
with  new-shorn  wool  on  every  festival. 

According  to  Hesiod,  when  Zeus  was  grown  up,  he,  by  some 
means  suggested  by  Gaia — Apollodoros  (i,  2)  says  M^tis  supplied 
a  drug— compelled  Kronos  to  disgorge  all  his  children  (D^m^t^r, 
H6ra,  Hades,  Poseid6n  and  the  foisted  stone), "  and  he  vomited  out 
the  stone  first,  as  he  had  swallowed  it  last."*  Zeus  fixed  the  stone 
at  Pytho  (Delphi)  where  Pausanias  (x,  245)  saw  it,  and  where  (says 

*  ^Sy^^-  ^^^^'  (Edwards),  106. 
*  FHes  (T^numiy  i,  20.  •  Paus.  ix,  2  ;  x,  24.  *  Theog.  498. 


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112  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 

Mr.  Andrew  Lang*  with  witty  irreverence),  as  it  did  not  tempt 
the  cupidity  of  barbarous  invaders,  it  probably  still  exists. 

Zeus  (apud  Hesiod  and  ApoUodoros')  subsequently  swallowed 
his  pregnant  spouse  M^tis,  child  and  all.  The  name  Metis  (counsel) 
requires  investigation.  Her  lights  were  superior  to  those  of  all  the 
other  gods  and  of  men  ;  which  makes  the  feat  of  Zeus  a  reminder 
of  Mirabeau  humant  toutes  les  formules  ;  and  this  meal  of  Zeus 
resulted  in  his  producing  Ath6n6. 

The  Mongolian  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Chinese  gives  us  a  striking 
version  of  the  stone  of  Kronos.  A  poor  Band^  meets  two  men  quarrelling  over 
a  precious  stone  as  big  as  a  sheep's  eye.  He  swallows  the  stone  and  it  causes 
him  to  disappear,  and  also  to  spit  gold.  A  daughter  of  the  Khin  has  him  bound 
with  a  horse-girth,  dosed  with  salt-water,  and  flogged  with  a  whip ;  when  out 
flies  the  stone  from  his  stomach.  The  Band6  becomes  a  Thibetan  Buddhist 
Lama.  The  Khin's  daughter  next  swallows  the  stone,  and  so  becomes  pregnant ; 
and  with  her  maids  goes  out  to  play  at  the  White  Tree.  She  gives  birth  to  boy- 
twins,  one  good  the  other  evil ;  the  following  generations  likewise  are  all  twins. 
(Here  we  have  a  new  view  of  the  Chinese  mythical  duality.)  They  are  all  rich, 
and  from  them  come  the  Chinese.*  (Note  the  white  Universe  Haoma  Tree,  and 
compare  the  myth  of  Latona.) 

The  holiest  of  Oaths  among  the  Romans— swearing  by  Jupiter 
with  a  stone — must  be  connected  with  these  early  legends ;  and 
this  oath  was  actually  sworn  on  a  flint  hatchet  (lapis  silex)  preserved 
with  the  sceptre  of  the  god  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius.* 
This  stone  was  the  god  his  very  self,  Jupiter  Lapis.*  Those  who 
had  to  swear  by  Jove,  said  Festus,®  held  a  flint :  lapidem  silicem 
tenebant  juratori  per  Jovem.  But  he  goes  on  at  once,  in  giving  the 
formula  of  the  oath,  to  disclose  that  they  really  swore  not  by  lu 
(lou,  love)  nor  by  luPiter,  but  by  DisPiter  :  "  tum  me  Dispiter  "  etc* 

In  Keuchen's  Cornelius  Nepos  (Hannibal)  is  a  note  stating  that 
a  Phoenician  took  a  most  solemn  oath  holding  a  lamb  with  the  left 
hand  and  a  silex  knife  with  the  other.  He  prayed  his  gods  to 
strike  him  dead  even  as  he  killed  the  victim  with  the  knife,  should 
he  violate  his  oath.'  In  the  Saga  of  Gudrun  they  swore  by  the 
holy  white  stone,  "  at  enom  hvita  helga  steini."*  At  Pheneos  in 
Arcadia  oaths  were  taken  by  the  petrotna  of  D^m^t^r  which  con- 

>  Myth,  RU,andRel  i,  303.  «  BibL  i,  3,  6.  »  Foikhre  Journal,  iv,  23. 

*  Preller  :  Riim,  Myth,  iii,  2,  b,  220  etc.     Testae,  feretrius, 

*  Mneid^  xii,  200 ;  Cicero,  Ad,  fam,  vii,  12. 

*  In  voce  Lapidem  silicem. 

'  Sven  NiIsson*s  Agede  la  Pierre,  3rd  ed.  1868,  p.  130. 

"  Edda  Saemundar  Hinns  Frbda,  Stockholm  1818,  p.  237  (in  Goblet  d'Alviella's 
Mig,  des  Symboles  1891,  p.  135). 


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MyihsJ]     Natural  Magnets;  Meteorites  ;  Beth-Els.       i^3 

sisted  of  two  large  stones  exactly  laid  one  to  the  other,  inside 
which  the  mystic  books  of  Dem^t^r  were  inscribed/  and  the  stones 
were  thus  a  parallel  to  the  Hebrew  Tables  of  the  Law.  At  the 
annual  festival  the  stones  were  turned  on  a  pivot  so  as  to  show  the 
writing ;  and  when  closed  they  were  covered  with  a  round  cap 
bearing  a  mask  of  D^m^t^r  Kidaria  (?  tciSapi^  Persian  tiara). 

The  myth  of  Attius  Navius  cutting  a  flint,  cos,  with  a  sharp 
knife,  novacula,'  has  its  fuller  doublet  in  the  Praenestine,  that  is 
Latin,  myth  of  Numerius  Suffucius  cutting  or  splitting  a  silex- 
stone  in  two  and  finding  therein  decrees  of  fate,  sortes,  engraved  in 
pristine  letters  on  oak.  This  again  is  as  like  as  may  be  to  the 
petroma  of  D^mdt^r.  These  divination  sortes  or  lots  were,  on 
discovery,  put  for  safety  in  an  ark  made  out  of  an  olivetree  which 
at  the  same  time  and  place  began  to  flow  with  honey.  And  tAere 
was  the  temple  founded  in  the  town  of  Praeneste,  where  the  dual 
infants  Jove  and  Juno  were  represented  as  suckled  at  the  breasts 
of  Fortuna.'  In  the  adjectival  name  Suffiicius  (or  Suffisium)  we 
must  see  the  supreme  Judge  (Sufes,  sufi*es,  a  Punic  word),  and 
Numerius  must  be  congeneric  with  Numa.  The  Alban  Metius 
Fufetius*  killed  by  Tullus  Hostilius  (=  TcUus  Hastilius)  would  give 
us  a  Central-Judge  and  a  war-in-heaven,  if  we  read  5ufetius. 


But  let  me  take  up  once  again  the  fragmentary  record  that 
Ouranos  "  invented  /SatrvXiaf  manufacturing  animated  stones." 
(^Ert  Bi,  (fyrjalv,  hrevorjce  Oeb^  Ovpav6<;  ^airvKi^a,  \l0ov<;  ifi'^irxpv^ 
fif}XO'V7}<rdfi€vo^.y  Here  the  epithet "  animated,"  lfiyjrvxo<Sf  inspirited, 
alive,  would  be  applied  by  early  man  with  startling  truthfulness  to 
the  mineral  natural  magnet,  ever  turning  towards  the  Polar  seat  of 
supreme  power.  And  it  thus  seems  to  me  that  we  have  in  the 
natural  magnets  the  Beth-Els  which  Professor  W.  Robertson  Smith 
has  called  baetylia,  or  god -boxes  f  sacred  stones  instinct  with 
divinity,  in  which  the  god  was  supposed  to  reside,  and  which  are 
found  almost  all  over  the  world.  "  The  living  stone  which  is  in- 
habited by  a  divine  soul  meets  ua  wherever  we  turn  in  studying  the 
Asiatic  mythologies  of  a  period  when  '  all  our  fathers  worshipped 
stocks  and  stones,' "  writes  Capt.  Conder.' 

'  Pausanias  viii,  14,  8 ;  15,  I. 

*  Is  this  not  really,  as  nova-acula  (where  acula  is  a  diminutive  of  acus)  a  new-pointed 
stone  tool  ?  The  reference,  I  consider,  must  really  be  to  the  then  long  lost  art  of  the 
cleaTage  of  flints  in  weapon-making.         '  Cicero  De  Div.  i,  17 ;  ii,  42.        *  Livy  i,  23,  4. 

*  Eusebius  Prep,  Ev.  i,  10.  •  Kinship  and  Marriage  in  Early  Arabia^  p.  50. 
^  Neih  and  Moab,  p.  197. 

II 


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114  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

The  Greek  derivation  of /ScwruXta  or  ^rvkot  from  ^Ira  OTpcurrj^  a  sheepskin 
coat,  because  Kronos  was  tricked  into  swallowing  the  stone — Priscian's  abadir 
— wrapped  up  in  a  /Sotn;,  instead  oi  making  a  meal  of  Zeus  himself,  is  of  the 
amusing  and  amazing  style  of  philok>gy.  The  Phoenician  b^th-iil  is  doubtless 
the  origin. 

The  name  Abadir^  dearly  proves  the  Semitic  origin  of  this  particular  stone- 
myth  ;  for  abadir  means  "  great  (or  glorious  or  venerable)  father,"  and  is  thus 
at  once  an  alias  of  Zeus  or  Jupiter  and  the  title  of  the  holy  stone  or  betylus.  It 
also  shows  that  we  should  read  into  the  myth,  as  the  earliest  names  we  can  now 
find,  those  Phoenician  ones  of  Amma,  ll,  Ba'al,  and  B^h-ul,  instead  of  Rhea, 

r  SaTumus,  Jupiter,  |  ^^^  Betylus.     This  is  confirmed  for  us  by  St.  Angustin 

I  Kronos,  Zeus,         J 

(Ep.  17)  who  mentions  the  African  Abbadires  as  divinities  that  were  baitulia, 
and  explains  their  name  as  "powerful  fathers."  Their  priests  were  called 
Encaddires. 

Pity  that  the  passage  aboqt  Butyls  in  Damascius's  life  of 
Isidorus,  to  which  Professor  W.  ^.objert^n  Smith  has  kindly  given 
me  a  reference,  is  so  scant  J^nd  indefinite.  Many  of  ^hem  were 
seen  by  Asclepiades,  and  by  ^sidorns,  pn  the  l^^banpn  near 
HeliopoUs — /cal  Ihtiv  ttoXXA  t&v  Xc^^fievfov  ffc^irvkicav  fj  ^^crvXtav, 
irepl  &/  fiupCa  reparoXoyel  &^ia  ^^Kxacrirr}^  aae/Sovoi)^.  Westermann's 
version  of  this  is  :  et  (ait  Asclepiades)  vidisse  multa  b^aetylia  vel 
baetyla,  de  quibus  multa  impio  ore  digna  jactat  (Didot's  Classics, 
vol.  X,  1862,  pp.  129,  130.) 

One  regrets  not  having  particulars  of  what  some  of  the  fjLvpCa 
&^ta  were ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  add  here  (as  commentary)  that 
the  po(SXifrv^  or  rvircu  pf  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  was  a  mock- 
fight  with  stones  in  honour  of  Deniopho6n.*  **  It  would  be  very 
difficult  to  attempt  now  to  penetrate  the  meaning  of  this,"  said 
F.  Lenormant ;  but  I  venture  to  suggest  that  it  was  in  pious 
imitation  of  the  war-in-heaven  of  the  Qods  who  heaved  ^ocks  and 
flung  celts  at  each  other.  (See  the  section  on  "  Weapons  of  the 
Gods.")  Just  in  the  same  way,  the  assault  on  c^id  killing  of  the  rex 
nemorensis,  the  sacrificing-priest  (rex)  of  Diana  in  the  Nenius  near 
Aricia  (now  Riccia),  by  his  challenger  and  successor,  may  have 
been  a  saored  simulacruni  of  the  victories  of  Jupiter  over  S^^Tumus, 
Kronos  over  Ours^nos,  and  Zeus  in  turn  over  Kronos.  The 
rex-priests  had  been  qriginally  rex-kings,  s^nd  this  particular 
master-butcher  and  prizefighter  had  always  to  be  armed  to  guard 
his  post  and  his  life.     There  was  also  a  lithobolia  or  stone-fight'  at 

*  Priscianus,  Z.  Z.  p.  647  (Putsch.)  and  F.  Lenormant. 

'  Hesychius«    Guignaut*s  Creuzer,  iii,  610,  1 109*  '  Paus»  ii,  32,  3. 


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MythsJ]    Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites ;  Bith-^ls.       "5 

the  festival  of  Damia  and  Auxfeia  at  Troiz^n.  From  blows  they 
got  to  words  ;  and  in  the  similar  festival  of  the  same  goddesses  at 
Aigina  the  stones  were  replaced  by  offensive  and  jocular  words* — 
coarse  chaff  in  point  of  fact  Similar  schools  of  abuse  were  the 
gephurismoi  at  the  return  from  the  Eleusinian  celebrations,  and  the 
st^nia  of  the  Attic  Thesmophoria,  and  that  (comic  and  satirical) 
between  men  and  women  at  the  women's  seven-day  feast  of 
D^m^t^r  y[\\^i^  af  Pell^n^.*  Does  this  extract  any  fresh  light  out 
of  the  passage  in  Damascius  ? 

I  t^ke  the  following  from  Tke  Times  of  8th  September  1891  : 
The  Corean  correspondent  of  a  Japan  paper  gives  an  account  of  a  curious 
popular  practice  in  Corea.  Kite-flying,  which  is  universal  in  that  country, 
ceases  suddenly  on  the  1 5th  of  the  first  Corean  month  ;  and  the  next  day  Stone- 
Fights  take  jts  place  as  the  chief  public  pastime.  The  first  stone-fight  of  the 
present  season  ^t  Seoul,  the  capital,  was  rather  more  disastrous  than  usual ;  it 
is  reported  that  six  men  were  killed. 

If  we  regard  these  fights  as  ritualistic,  coming  as  they  do 
with  the  regylarity  of  the  ecclesiastical  seasons  of  Western 
calendars,  so  must  we  regard  tjie  flying  of  kites  in  the  form  of 
hawks  as  ritualistic  too.  And  then  this  would  sfeem  to  lend  a  real 
significance  to  the  coming  in  and  g[oing  out  of  season  of  others  of 
our  own  (possibly  Cosmic)  bpys'  games,  such  as  trundling  the  hoop, 
spinning  the  top,  hop-Scotch,  and  so  forth. 


B^th-fel  must,  it  would  seem,  be  simply  taken  ai^d  treated  ^  £l-dwelling, 
£ll-holder.  It  is  tlje  oi>ly  neutra|,  scientific,  way  to  ^carter  all  controversial 
theori^  and  their  embarrassmei^ts.  It  is  a  word  all  the  same  as  b6th-Dagon 
or  bfith-Peor  ;  only  that  the  Hebrews  and  their  Christian  issue  fevoured  fel,  and 
made  devils  of  the  other  gods.  Thus  the  stone  that  w^s  Jacob's  pillow,  and 
that  he  set  up  and  oiled  {Gen,  xxviii,  18),  and  ca]led  an  £^l-container,  is  the  same 
of  which  the  messenger  of  the  felohim  in  Gen,  xxxi,  13,  says  to  him  ;  "  J  am  the 
god  of  the  b6th-fel  that  you  consecrated  with  oiling." 

B6th-fel  was,  as  by  jts  name  it  ought  to  have  been,  the  chief  sanctuary  of 
Israel  in  the  North.'  In  the  earlier  name,  Luz  (almond-tree),  of  the  place  of 
Jacob's  B6th-fel  {Gen,  xxviii,  19 ;  xxxv,  6  j  xlyiii,  3  ;  fudges  i,  23)  we  have  the 
very  ordinary  junction  of  tree-worship  and  stone-worship  on  the  same  spot. 
We  have  even  bull-worship  (golden  calf)  added  "  jn  Beth-pl "  jn  i  Kings  xii,  29, 
and  ii  Kings  x,  29. 

Nothing  can  be  more  direct  than  the  declaration  of  this  stone-deity  to 
Jacob:  "I  am  the  fel  of  b^th-fel"  {Gen,  xxxi,  13);  but  jt  g^ves  occasion  for 

>  Herod,  v,  82. 

'  Hesych.  and  Phot,  {trnpnc^.     Paus.  vii,  27,  4. 

•  Relig,  of  Semites,  229 

H   2 


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»i^  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

lamenting  the  timidity  of  the  Revised  Version  of  the  Bible,  which  here 
renders  the  first  £l  as  "God."  Throughout  the  Book  (except  in  defer- 
ence to  ancient  caprice,  in  some  very  few  instances)  the  Hebrew  god-names 
AdonaY,  fil,  f:i-feli6n,  fel-Shaddal,  Eloah,  Elohim,  "Jah,"  "Jehovah,"  and  so 
forth,  are  all  concealed  from  our  attention  under  the  uniformity  of  this 
Teutonic  and  unrelated  word  God,  assisted  by  the  words  Lord  and  Almighty. 
The  American  Revisers  made  a  partial  and  ineffectual  protest  against  this, 
as  may  be  seen  from  their  first  remark  in  the  Appendix  to  the  English 
Revised  Version.  The  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Helhnuth  has  stated  that  ^"^ 
A7  (God),  with  or  without  an  additional  adjective  or  a  term  designating  the  deity 
(is  for  instance  ^"^tt/  Shaddaiy  Almighty)  occurs  225  times ;  and  the  poetical 
[and  therefore  perhaps  older]  fonn  rH^M  Eloah^  57  times.* 

Some  other  passages  where  the  word  "  god  "  is  especially  unfortunate  arc  : 
And  God^  said  to  Jacob  *  Arise,  go  up  to  Beth-el,  and  dwell  there '  (fjen.  xxxv,  i). 
Samuel  says  to  Saul  (i  Sam.  x,  3)  *  Thou  shalt  come  to  the  oak  (or  "  terebinth  "; 
of  Tabor  [=  a  hill],  and  there  thou  shalt  meet  with  three  men  going  up  to  God 
to  Beth -el  ....  after  that  thou  shalt  come  to  the  hill  of  God^ 

Herodian  (v.  5)  thus  described  the  stone  of  Emesa  called 
Elagabalus  :  '*  In  the  temple  there  is  seen  a  great  stone,  round  at 
the  base,  pointed  above,  conical  in  form,  and  black  in  colour,  which 
they  say  fell  from  heaven;"  F.  Lenormant,  citing  authorities,* 
explained  the  word  as  "  elah-gahal  (see  also  p.  94),  the  god  of  the 
mountain  or  le  dieu  montagne."  Would  it  not  be  more  satisfactory 
and  direct  to  render  it  the  Mountain-£l  or  Eloah? 

The  singular  Ashdrah,  for  the  divine  post  or  pole,  has  in  the  Hebrew  sacred 
books  its  plural  Ashfirim  (as  in  Exodus  xxxiv,  13  :  "break  down  their  altars, 
dash  in  pieces  their  obelisks,  and  cut  down  their  Asherim").  And  Eloah  in  like 
manner  has  its  plural  Elohim.     May  I  suggest  that  Ash^rtm  and  Elohim  are 

parallel  words ;  and  that,  bearing  in  mind  the  b^th-£l,  the  Elohim  D^!/?J^ 
were  stone-gods,  just  as  the  Ash^rim,  were  tree-gods  ?  This  is  firmly  sup- 
ported by  Deuteronomy  xxxii,  15:"  Jeshurun  forsook  Eloah  which  made  him, 
and  lightly  esteemed  the  Rock  of  his  salvation,"  Eloah  is  here  "the  Rock;" 
and  to  substitute  for  it  the  word  "  god  "  is  to  part  with  the  meaning.  Ash^rah 
seems  to  be  formed  from  Asshur,  as  Eloah  from  £^1,  though  the  roots  of  the 
two  last  are  held  to  differ.     (See  also  p.  196  infra:) 

Pr.  E.  G.  King,  D.D.,  shows  "that  God  was  worshipped  by  the  Israelites 
under  the  name  of  A^  oj  On  up  to  the  days  of  the  captivity."  Ip  Rosea  he 
renders  as  follows  :  iv,  15,  "  neither  go  up  to  beth-An  "  (Septuagint :  rhy  oUw 
*Ov) ;  V.  8,  "  sound  an  alarm  in  beth-An  (fV  r^  ot*cy*Oi/) ;  x,  5,  "  unto  the  calves 
of  beth-An  the  Samarians  (come  with)  fear ; "  x,  8,  "  the  high-places  of  An  " 
(/3o)/*ol  *Oi/) ;  xii,  5,  for  beth-El  read  in  Septuagint  house  of  An.     "  I  suggest,"  he 

*  Biblical  Thesaurus  (1884),  p.  2.  See  also  the  notes  to  the  Revised  Version  pp. 
3  and  10,  as  to  the  expedient  of  capital  letters  ;  and  the  statements  at  pp.  vi  and  681. 

'  The  Hebrew  here  b  Elohim  «  the  fels  or  the  Eloahs, 

•  Herodian  v,  3,  10  ;  Pliny  Hist,  Nat,  xxxvi,  8. 


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Myihs,'\    Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites;  Beth-Els.         "7 

writes  "  that  th^  Septuagint  has  here  preserved  the  right  reading,  and  that  beth^ 
On  was  the  ancient  name  of  Bethel."  He  also  suggests  that  Amos  (v.  5  and 
elsewhere)  "  only  knew  beth-El  under  the  name  beth- An,  and  that  wherever 
the  former  name  occurs  in  his  writings  it  is  due  to  later  correction  ....  The 
modem  name  of  Bethel  is  Beitin,  which  thus  preserves  the  original  form  of  the 
name."  The  Akkadian  An  (=  heavens,  god)  had  its  Semitic  form  in  Anu,  as 
in  Anammelech  (read  Anu-malik)  =  Anu-is-prince  ;  and  the  female  counterpart 
of  Anu  was  Anath.    Thus  we  have  the  city  beth-Anath  twice  (Josh,  xix,  38; 

"The  stone  of  the  Sakrah  which  Allah  (be  he  exalted  and 
glorified)  commanded  Moses  to  institute  as  the  Kiblah  "  of  Jeru- 
salem, or  direction  to  be  faced  at  prayer,  had  the  Aksa  mosque, 
built  round  about  it  by  Solomon — this  is  the  Kubbat  as  Sakhrah 
or  famous  Dome  of  the  Rock — Mahomet  likewise  at  first  recognised 
this  Rock  as  his  kiblah,  but  was  afterwards  commanded  to  substi- 
tute the  Kaabah  stone  at  Mecca,*  This  stone-worship  lasts 
supreme  to  this  day. 

The  great  mosque  round  the  kaaba  at  Mecca  is  still  called  the 
Beit-Ullah,  Allah-house;  and  the  black  stone  is  a  pebble  of 
basalt  ij)  set  in  a  silver  plate,  and  encrusted  in  one  of  the  angles  of 
the  kaaba ;  which  is  a  quadrangular  tower  1 1  metres  10  high,  and 
covered-over  with  the  well-known  black  stuff  pall  called  the  tob- 
el-kaaba,  or  shirt  of  the  kaaba,* 

The  €#crviro)/Mi  or  impression  of  Aphroditfi,  which  Byzantine  writers  pointed 
out  on  this  Black  Stone  of  Mecca,"*  may  be  a  similarity  to  the  itrds  over-distinctly 
shown  on  the  conical  stone  of  Elagabalus  upon  a  celebrated  (aureus)  coin  of 
the  Emperor  Uranius  Antoninus.*  This  is  significant  as  affording  a  very 
ancient  link  with  the  yoni- worship  of  India. 

**  Svegder  made  a  solemn  vow  to  seek  Godheim  "  (the  home  of 
the  godes)  "  and  Odinn  the  Old.  He  went  with  twelve  "  (zodiacal) 
"  men  through  the  world,  and  came  to  Tyrkland  "  (Troy  was  its 
chief  town).  "He  came  to  a  mansion  called  Stein,  where  there 
was"  (?  which  was)  "a  stone  as  big  as  a  large  house.  Svegder 
cast  his  eye  on  the  stone,  and  saw  a  dwarf  standing  in  the  door, 
who  called  to  him  and  told  him  to  come  in  and  he  should  see 
Odinn.  Svegder  ran  into  the  stone,  which  instantly  closed  behind 
him,  and  he  never  came  back."^     Here  is  a  clear  turning  to  stone, 

*  Akkadian  Genesis  (1888),  pp.  I,  2,  3. 

'  Nasir  i-Khusrau's /(wrwo'.  Pal.  Pilgrims*  Text  See.  (1888),  pp.  27,  28,  43,  45. 
Sale's  Koran,  ch.  ii,  note  /.  ;  ch.  iii,  note  r. 

*  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  Art  dans  PAnt,  iii,  316. 

*  F.  Lenormant,  Z^//r^j  Assyriol,  ii,  I26w 

'  Saglio,  Diet,  dcs  antiq.  i,  644.  •  HeimsKrlngla  (1889),  vol.  i,  p.  285. 


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ii8  The  Nigkt  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

or  an  enclosing  in  stone,  like  Osiris  in  the  tree ;  and  also  a  bfith-rll, 
a  stone  Odinn-house. 

When  Halfdan  the  Black  was  drowned  he  was  quartered  ;  the  head  being 
laid  in  a  mound  at  Stein  (stone),  and  the  other  parts  in  other  mounds  which 
have  since  been  called  Halfdan's  mounds.^  This  is  a  reminder  of  the  cutting-up 
of  Osiris.  And  if  we  here  add  on  the  Cymric  legend  of  the  head  of  Brin,  the 
son  of  Llyr,  being  buried  in  a  hill  at  Llundein,'  we  possibly  get  at  the  rationale 
of  the  **  London  stone." 

I  detect  a  curious  survival  of  the  animated  stone  in  a  Portuguese  legend*  A 
farmer  was  in  the  habit  of  weighting  his  harrow  with  a  heavy  squared  stone,  all 
unwitting  that  it  was  a  Moorish  woman  compelled  by  mag^c  to  assume  that 
shai>e.  One  day  when  driving  the  harrow,  a  voice  in  the  air  bade  him  break  off 
a  piece  of  the  stone,  carry  it  home,  and  then  throw  the  rest  into  a  deep  pool  in 
the  river  Sabor.  This  he  did,  and  the  fragment  turned  to  a  lump  of  pure  gold 
in  his  house. 

F.  Lenormant  considered  that  the  Semitic  notions  of  the  "beith- 
el,"  the  y9atTi;Xo9,  reached  the  Greeks  in  Crete  from  the  Phoenicians. 
In  the  "certainly  Cretan  "  legend  of  Rhea  making  Kronos  swallow 
the  stone,  he  saw  a  form  of  the  Phoenician  myth  in  which  El  (or  ll), 
the  god  assimilated  to  Kronos,  immolated  his  son. 

[The  full  references  to  the  most  exact  authorities  about  this  are  impor- 
tant. Lenormant  gives  them :  Orelli's  Sanchon.  36 ;  Euseb.  Prap,  evang.  i, 
10,  p.  40;  iv,  16,  p.  157 ;  Euseb.  Theophan.  ii,  54  and  59 ;  Porphyr.  De  abst. 
Cam,  ii,  56  ;  F.  Lenormant,  Leitres  AssyrioL  ii,  209  to  218.  I  add  Lenormant's 
translation  of  Eusebius's  report  of  Philo's  translation  of  Sanchoniathon  :  La 
famine  et  la  mortality  ^tant  survenues,  Kronos  sacrifia  k  son  p^re  Ouranos  son 
fils  unique ;  il  se  circoncit  luim^me,  et  il  ordonne  k  tous  les  soldats  de  son 
arm^e  de  faire  la  m^me  chose.  According  to  the  same  version  of  Sanchoniathon 
Betulos  (=B6th-Ul  or  beith-El)  was  the  brother  of  Kronos.] 
He  also  considered  that  this  legend  of  the  infancy  of  Zeus  is  the 
sole  example  of  the  introduction  of  the  Semitic  baitulos  into  the 
general  Greek  mythology,  although  baitulia  are  to  be  traced  in 
particular  local  cults. 


I  think  the  Roman  manalis  lapis  veritably  meant  the  anima-ted, 
the  manes-having  stone.  It  was  thought  to  be  the  stone-gate  of 
Orcus  by  which  the  animae  below,  who  are  called  manes,  ascended 
{Festus),  It  was  near  the  temple  of  Mars  outside  the  Capena  gate, 
and  was  drawn  through  the  city  in  droughts,  in  order  to  bring  rain. 
(They  do  the  same  with  a  statue  of  the  Virgin  among  the  Cypriot 
Greeks  of  Nikosia  at  this  day.)     This  may  have  been  from  the 

'  HHmsKringla  (1889),  vol.  i,  p.  341. 

'  J.  Lolh,  Les  Mabinogion  (1889),  i,  90. 

'  Round  the  Calendar  in  Portugal,  by  Oswald  Crawfurd,  1890. 


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Myths.]     Natural  Magnets;  Meteorites;  Bct/i-Els.        "9 

fancied  connexion  of  manalis  with  mano,  flow,  which  also  induced 
Festus  and  Varro  to  explain  a  manalis  fons  as  an  ever-flowing  foun- 
tain, which  is  dull  nonsense.  All  Eastern  wells  hold  jinn;  as  every 
boy  who  has  ever  read  The  Thousand  and  One  knows.  [May  I 
here  throw  in  my  bracketing  of  manes  with  maneo,  because  of  their 
perineo^ence?]  As  to  Orcus,  Verrius  said  that  this  god's  name 
among  the  ancients  was  Urgus,  because  he  urges  us  most,  maxime 
nos  ui^;eat  {Festus).  He  was  in  fact,  as  my  theories  maintain,  the 
ufger  oi  the  universe,  the  god  of  the  machine.  And  I  now  employ 
him  to  urge  that  theory,  and  to  aid  in  explaining  AfjjiiOvfyyo^  or 
A«/ttOv/yyo9  or  Af)fiiO€pyc<;  (S^/ao?  =  earth).  Orcus  was  a  god  of 
Truth,  like  all  the  polar  gods ;  he  guaranteed  oaths  and  avenged 
perjury.     LukoUrgos  or  LukOurgos  is  a  cognate  word. 

Recalling  to  the  Reader's  attention  what  I  have  said  as  to  \aa^ 
under  the  heading  of  "  Divine  names  in  pal-  "  (p.  48),  and  taking  up 
the  myth  of  DeuKali6n's  creation  of  men  out  of  stones,  I  even  go 
so  far  as  to  suggest  that  Xao^  means  people  because  of  7JSia<:  being 
a  stone-god  ;  peoples  everywhere  calling  themselves  after  their 
gods.  And  this  I  theorise  to  be  (when  coupled  with  the  idea  of  the 
•*  animated  stones  ")  the  Ding  an  Sich  of  the  stones,  cast  by  Deu- 
Kali6n  and  Purra  overhead,  turning  into  men  and  women.  In 
fact  this  derivation  of  Xao9  has  been  staring  us  in  the  face  at  least 
ever  since  Apollodoros*  wrote :  50€P  xal  Xaol  /iera^o^t/ccov  o>vofida' 
Offcap  airo  rov  XcUi^f  o  XWo^. 

MeneLas  or  MeneLaos  must  it  is  presumed  be  treated  in  the 
same  way.  The  old  explanation  of  his  name  (from  fLivoo  remain, 
and  X«o9  people)  €is  *  support  of  the  people '  is  insufficient.  I 
suggest  Lasting-stone,  *  rock  of  ages'  in  fact  His  'brother'  was 
a  divine  person,  a  force  if  you  will,  in  Ag*,  AgaMemnon,  where  the 
same  idea  of  permanence  is  given  in  jiifLvw  remain.  AgaMemnon 
(it  was  a  title  of  Zeus)  =  Eternal-urger  ?  Their  uncle  Atreus 
{i'Tpiw)  =  Immoveable,  unshakeable  (in^branlable).  The  father 
Pleisthen^  should  mean  (ttXcZo^,  adhosi)  complete-strength  ;  but 
irXriiivf)  =  nave  of  wheel.  He  was  son  of  Pelops  ;  and  Tantalos 
was  a  hear  relation.  As  to  <rn}-Xo9,  see  the  heading  "  Magnus," 
where  (under  MeDousa,  p.  144)  I  make  it  standing-stone  ;  X09 
being  =  Xa9,  Xao9,  Xoa?,  stone.  There  was  also  a  Plistenus  who 
shared  with  his  brother  Faustulus  the  rearing  of  Romulus  and 
Remus.    See  also  TaLaos,  p.  134,  and  AtLas  under  the  heading  of 

»  BibL  i,  7i  2,  6w    . 


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120  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

"  The  Mountain,"  in  vol.  2.  There  is  also,  of  course,  a  long  list 
of  such  stone-gods  in  Lao-,  for  which  the  reader  has  only  to  turn 
to  a  mythological  index.  Such  are  Lao-Dik^,  Dokos,  Goras, 
Gord,  Nutos,  Phont^,  Tho^,  Tho6s,  and  so  on. 


It  is  impossible  to  be  satisfied  with  the  explanation  of  Apollo 
'Ayvcev^  or  'Ayvtdrrj^  as  "  the  protector  of  the  streets,"  a  sort  of 
watchman  or  policeman.  We  must  go  farther  back  to  get  at  the 
supernal  origin  which,  as  I  conceive,  is  indicated  with  sufficiency 
in  the  word  ay-viA.  Here,  I  suggest,  we  have  the  Latin  uia  a 
way  ;  and  the  particular  way  meant  is  the  great  Way  of  the  Gods, 
the  Shin-T6  or  Kami  no  Michi  of  Japan.  It  may  also  point  to  the 
Via  Lactea.  In  ofyvicL  we  have  besides  the  syllable  Ag-  which 
denotes  the  impelling  of  the  universe,  and  about  which  so  much  is 
said  in  this  Inquiry,  It  was  from  this  Way  that  Apollo  descended 
into  the  streets,  and  the  very  name  of  the  stones  put  up  to  this 
^KyviaTT]^  at  the  house-doors,  the  street-doors,  0/9701  X/^ot,  clearly 
denotes,  for  anyone  who  follows  me  in  making  Argos  the  bright 
heavens  (see  Index),  the  celestial  nature  of  these  stone-symbols, 
which  were  a  round  or  a  square  pillar,  diminishing  towards  the  top.^ 
On  these,  sweet-smelling  oils  were  poured,  just  as  sacred  stones 
were  smeared  in  Arabia.  This  pillar  was  the  altar  or  /8a>/i09  ayviev^ 
mentioned  often  by  ancient  authors. 

Other  argoi  lithoi  were  the  sacred  stones  of  implacability  (dvaibcias)  and  of 
injury  (vfip€o>s),  of  which  the  remains  are  still  traced — so  it  is  thought^-on  the 
platform  of  the  areopagus  at  Athens.  On  the  first  the  accuser,  on  the  other  the 
accused,  placed  his  foot ;  a  sort  of  swearing  by  Jupiter  with  a  stone  to  the  truth 
of  their  case.  The  judges  also  voted  with  stones  which  they  dropped  in  the 
ballot-urns. 

E.  Saglio*s  derivation  of  'Apyoi  XLdov  from  a  -f  ipyoi,  unworked 
stones,*  as  contrasted  with  the  agalmata,  cannot  now  be  accepted 
for  one  moment  They  are  simply  stones  from  Argos,  from  the 
heavens  ;  meteors,  aerolites.  TA  hk  en  irdXaiSrepa  koI  to?v  ira<riv 
''EXXiyo't  TifjLct,^  0€&v  avrX  arfoX^drcDV  etxpv  ^Apyol  AtOot  (Paus.  vii, 
22,  4).  Pausanias  (iii,  22,  i)  also  calls  an  Argos  lithos  the  stone 
called  Zeus  Kapp6tas  (or  Katapaut^s,  the  Appeaser)  at  Gythium 
(Guthion)  in  Laconia,  on  which  Orestes  sat  to  be  cured  of  his  mad- 
ness. He  also  (x,  24,  6)  indicated  the  stone  at  Delphi  which 
Kronos  had  swallowed  for  Zeus.  It  was  oiled  and  swaddled. 
Rome  also   claimed  to  have  this  same  stone  (which   Rhea  had 

*  Bekker,  Anecd.  p.  331.  '  DicL  des  antiq,  i,  413. 


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Myths."]     Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites ;  Bcth-Els.        '^i 

given  to  Saturn)  in  the  shapeless  stone  of  Jupiter  Terminus  which 
stood  on  the  capitol.*  The  catalogue  of  the  other  holy  stones  seen 
by  Pausanias  is  :  H^raKl^s,  in  his  temple  at  Hyettos  in  Boidtia — 
the  stone  represented  the  god ;  three  stones,  fallen  from  heaven^ 
adored  in  the  temple  of  the  Charites  or  Graces  at  Orchomenos  in 
Boidtia ;  at  Thespiai  (Argos  was  bom  there,  and  the  Muses  were 
called  Thespian)  or  Thespeia  or  Thespeiai  (which  give  us  a  parallel 
name  to  Thebes  ?  )  a  stone  was  the  most  ancient  and  revered  image 
of  Erds ;  at  Pharai  or  Ph^rai  in  Achaia  Pausanias  further  recorded 
the  Thirty  (compare  the  tri-decades  of  Hindu  g:ods)  squared  stones 
which  were  the  symbols  of  thirty  gods ;  at  Tegea  (Atalanta  was 
called  Tegeatis)  ;  in  Arcadia  Zeus  Teleios  was  represented  by  a 
squared  stone* ;  and  Pausanias  gave  others,  which  are  mentioned 
here  under  the  heads  of  the  Pillar  and  the  Pyramid.  At  Cyzicum 
(Kuzikos)  was  a  triangular  block  "  the  work  of  a  primitive  age," 
which  was  a  gift  of  Athen^.' 

Actaeon  (Aktai6n)  when  weary  of  the  chase,  slept  on  a  stone 
near  a  fountain  not  far  from  Megara  in  Boi6tia.*  They  say,  wrote 
Clemens  of  Alexandria,*  that  at  Delphi  a  stone  was  shown  beside 
the  Oracle,  on  which  it  is  said  the  first  Sibyl  sat,  who  came  from 
Helicon. 

Apollonius  Rhodius  mentions  the  setting  up  of  a  stone  as  holy 
(as  was  right)  in  the  temple  of  Athene  who  was  with  lesdn  (lason).* 
He  also  describes  how  the  altar  of  Ar^s  stands  outside  the  roofless 
temple  built  of  small  stones  {<md<ov).  Within  is  a  black  stone 
planted,  the  holystone  to  which  the  Amazons  prayed  (ii,  1 171). 
This  recalls  the  Phoenician  Giganteja  at  Malta. 

At  Palaio-kastro  (Oldcastle)  on  the  south  slopes  of  the  earthly  Mount  Pelion 
is  a  place  still  called  Mavri-Pdtrais  (Black-stones)  where  M.  Alfred  M^zi^res 
found  nothing  but  shapeless  stones  (des  pierres  informes)J 

Ephesos  could  still  be  described  in  the  time  of  Saint  Paul  as  "  a 
worshipper  of  the  great  goddess,"  that  is  the  great  Mother-goddess 
Cybel^.  There,  and  at  Pessinus  in  Phrygia,  she  was  adored  under 
the  form  of  a  black  and  rugged  meteoric  stone  which  had  fallen 
from  heaven.® 

One  of  the  chief  gods  of  the  Aramean  peoples  was  Qa^iou  (so 

^  Lactantius,  Div,  Inst,  i,  20. 

*  Paus.  ix,  24,  3 ;  38,  I  ;  27,  I ;  vii,  22,  4 ;  viii,  48,  4.  •  Anth.  pal,  vi,  342. 

*  Paus.  ix,  2,  24.  '  Stromaia^  i,  ch.  xv. 

•  Argon,  i,  960.  7  />  P^lwn  et  tOssa^  Paris  (1853),  p.  17. 

•  Prof.  Sayce,  Hittites^  p.  113. 


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I"  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  {Axis 

F.  Lenormant  wrote  it)  the  aerolite  god,  as  his  name  indicates  ; 
and  he  was  adored  in  many  places  as  a  mountain-god.  The 
Greeks  turned  him  into  a  Zeus  Kasios.  At  Selucia  in  Syria  he 
was  a  heavens  fallen  conical  stone,  and  he  was  thus  also  confused 
with  Zeus  Keraunios.  Mount  Casius  near  Antioch  was  one  of  the 
seats  of  Qa^iou,  and  was  regarded  by  the  people  as  the  god  himself. 
On  the  summit  was  a  sacred  enclosure  and  his  open-^ir  altar  with- 
out a  temple.  There  Hadrian  sacrificed.  He  was  also  worshipped 
at  another  Mount  Casius  at  Pelusium  (frontiers  of  Egypt  and 
Palestine)  where  his  idol  was  a  young  man  holding  a  pomegranate, 
the  symbol  of  the  god  Rimm6n.* 

Sir  A.  H.  Layard  in  Nineveh  and  Babylon  (p.  539)  engraves  a 
British  Museum  Babylonian  cylinder  which  shows 
"  a  priest  wearing  the  sacrificial  dress  standing  at  a 
table,  before  an  altar  bearing  a  crescent,  and  a  smaller 
altar  on  which  stands  a  cock."  I  reproduce  the 
"  table,"  as  accurately  as  I  can  ;  and  ask  if  we  are 
to  see  in  it  a  b^th-£l,  and  whether  it  is  not  placed  on  a  pillar 
standing  on  a  mountain. 

F.  Lenormant  (referring  to  the  notes  of  Villoison  on  Cornufus 
De  natur,  deor.  (Osann.)  pp.  245,  280)  said  that  the  Greeks  assigned 
cubic  stones  to  Cyb^l^  and  parallelopipeds  to  Hermes.  Thus  did 
the  cube-shaped  temple  even  come  to  be  regarded  itself  as  the 
divine  image  ;*  a  true  beth-fel  or  £ll-house  indeed  ;  which  connects 
us  with  today's  kaaba  (see  p.  117).  The  Semites,  he  said,  gave 
rectangular  stones  (Petra  and  elsewhere  in  Nabatene)  to  the  god 
Dusares  and  to  the  goddess  Alath  or  Allftt  These  last  were 
multiplied  numerously  among  the  Arabs,  as  Herodotus,  Max- 
imus  of  Tyre  and  Clemens  of  Alexandria  recorded.  They  were 
called  ansabf  and  Musulman  authors  related  that  whilst  they  were 
divine  images,  victims  were  sometimes  killed  on  them  or  they  were 
at  least  daubed  with  their  blood,  which  Herodotus  and  Porphyry 
also  told.  In  the  6th  century  of  our  era  Antoninus  Martyr  {Itin, 
38)  saw  the  neighbouring  Saracens  adore  a  stone  on  Mount  Horeb, 
as  the  simulacrum  of  a  lunar  deity. 

Among  other  famous  stones  were  the  lapides  qui  divi  dicuntur 
at  Seleucia ;  the  seven  black  stones  at  Uruk  which  typified  the 
seven  chief  gods,  the  mystic  Ka^eipoi  or  Great  Ones ;  *  and  it  may 

*  F.  Lenoimant  in  Saglio's  DicL  i,  935. 

*  F.  Lenormant,  Lettres  AssyrioL  ii,  306.       '  Conder's  Heih  and  Moab^  pp.  210,  209. 


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My0s.^     Natural  Magnets;  Meteorites ;  BHIi-^ls.         123 

turn  out  that  all  such  black  sacred  stones  were  natural  magnets  or 
aerolites.  Jacob's  memorial  stone  or  b^th-El  was  made  a  metzebah 
or  massebah,  which  is  rendered  pillar  in  the  English.* 

Others  were,  among  the  Israelites,  the  witness  pillar  of  Mizpeh  ;  the 
memorial  pillar  over  RachePs  grave  ;  Joshua's  pillar  under  the  oak  at  Shechem, 
in  memory  of  the  oath  taken  to  serve  Jehovah ;  the  stones  of  Bethshemesh, 
Ezel,  and  Ebenezer.  Saul  and  Absalom  erected  each  a  hand  or  memorial 
cippus,  and  Josiah  found  such  pillars  at  Bethel.  The  pillars  or  cippi  erected 
by  the  Canaanites,  and  connected  with  the  worship  of  Baal,  were  destroyed  by  the 
reforming  kings  Hezekiah  and  Josiah.  "  Standing  images,"  "  images  of  stone,"' 
are  forbidden  in  Leviticus  (xxvi,  i).  The  sacred  character  of  the  pillar  among 
Israelites  and  Canaanites  alike  is  sufficiently  illustrated.  The  Nabatheans 
at  Petra  worshipped  a  black  stone  about  four  feet  high  and  two  square, 
called  Dhu  Shera,  Lord  of  Desire.*  The  Ansdb  or  Menhirs  are  specially  con- 
demned in  the  Korin  (Sura  v,  92).  "  Smeared  stones  " — that  is  anointed — are 
often  found  in  Syria.  One  Menhir  group  of  about  1 50  dolmens  is  called  el 
Mareighit,  the  smeared.* 

"  A  perforated  stone  to  which  the  Jews  come  every  year  and  anoint  it "  is 
mentioned  at  Jerusalem  by  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim*  (333  a.d.  ?)  and  by  no  one 
else.  .  "The  12  stones  which  the  children  of  Israel  brought  out  of  Jordan"  are 
mentioned  at  the  site  of  Jericho  by  the  same  pilgrim.*  Arculfus  in  a.d.  670 
"saw  six  of  them  lying  on  the  right  of  the  church  in  Galgal,  and  an  equal 
number  on  the  north  side."«  Outside  the  walls  of  Caesarea,  the  Cites  de 
Jherusalem  (1187  A.D.)  described  "a  very  fair  stone  of  marble,  great  and  long, 
which  is  called  the  Table  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  there  are  twolitde  stones  which 
are  round,  large  below  and  pointed  above,  which  are  called  the  Candlesticks  of 
our  Lord."' 

Theophrastus  {Char.  16)  depicted  the  superstitious  who  were 
scrupulous  to  pour  oil  on  the  stones  of  the  cross-roads  and  to  bend 
the  knee  to  them  ;  and  Socrates®  talked  of  the  ultra  devout  who 
adored  all  the  stones,  all  the  stocks,  and  all  the  animals  they  met 
Lucian  also  {Pseudom,  30)  exhibits  a  man  who  bows  and  prays 
to  the  stones  he  sees  oiled  and  hung  with  wreaths.  "  What  was 
not  my  blindness!"  confesses  the  christened  Amobius,*  "when 
I  perceived  a  stone  running  with  oil  of  olives,  I  invoked  it,  I 
addressed  it  praise  and  prayers,  I  adored  it  as  a  divinity !  " 

Finn  Magniissen  said^®  that  in  parts  of  the  Norwegian  Alps  the 
peasants    until    the    end   of   the    i8th    century    enshrined    and 

*  Conder's  Heth  and  Moab^  pp.  210,  209. 

*  In  the  Revised  Version,  "pillar"  or  obelisk,  and  "figured  stone." 

•  Conder's  Heth  and  Moaby  pp.  211,  255,  258. 
<  PaL  Pilgrims*  Text  Soc.  (1887),  pp.  22,  26. 

»  Ibid,  pp.  22,  26.  •  Ibid,  (1889),  p.  36. 

'  Ibid,  (1888),  p.  32.  *  Xenophon,  Memor.  i,  I,  14. 

•  Advers,  naiionesy  i,  39.        ^  Antialer  for  Nordisk  Oidkyudighed {i^-fi-^),  p.  133. 


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124  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

worshipped  round  stones.  Every  Thursday  evening  they  washed 
them,  anointed  them  at  the  fire  with  butter,  and  placed  them  in 
fresh  straw  in  the  seat  of  honour  at  the  head  of  the  table.  At 
times  they  washed  them  in  whey,  and  at  the  winter  solstice  in 
beer.  -__«..^_« 

At  the  consecration  of  the  hofy  oils  in  the  Roman  Pontifical,  there  must  be 
a  bishop,  12  priests  fiilly  vested,  7  deacons,  7  subdeacons,  and  many  other 
assistants.  This  is  "  a  vestige  of  the  ancient  discipline  ;  and  ancient  usages 
usually  maintain  themselves  without  much  change  in  the  great  ceremonies."* 
All  breathe  thrice  on  the  oils.  This  ceremony  was  certainly  in  use  as  early  as 
the  6th  century  ;  and  "  we  know  not  of  its  commencement " — the  memory 
and  tradition  of  the  Church  run  not  to  the  contrary.  In  the  blessing  of  a  bell 
7  unctions  are  made  with  the  Oil  on  the  outside,  and  4  with  Chrism  on  the  inside 
as  the  sound  should  be  heard  to  the  4  quarters. 

"  Since  a  long  time  ago  the  Church  forbids  the  offering  of  the 
holy  Sacrifice  [of  the  "Mass]  elsewhere  than  on  an  altar  of  stone."* 
Portable  stone  altars  for  Mass  are  first  found  mentioned  by  Bede 
{Hist  V.  II)  in  the  7th  century.  Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Reims, 
writes  of  them  in  the  9th  century.  Do  we  find  a  reminiscence  of 
the  origin  in  the  Lavabo  of  the  Mass,  where  we  read  :  **  circumA^k^o 
altare  tuum,  Domine  ....  Domine,  dilexi  domAs  tuae,  et 
locum  habitationis  gloriae  tuae  ?  "*  Domus  and  habitatio  domini 
are  straight  equivalents  of  B^th-El.  The  priest  kisses  the  altar  at 
least  thrice  during  the  Mass. 

The  canons  say  that  an  altar  should  be  of  stone  ;  altare  debet  esse  lapideum, 
If  the  altar  is  not  wholly  of  stone,  but  of  wood  for  example,  it  suffices  that  theie 
be  an  altarlet  (altariolus)  of  stone  or  a  lapis  sacratus,  holy  stone,  in  it.  This  the 
Roman  Ordo  calls  a  tabula  itineraria,  or  a  viaticum,  or  an  antimensium.  It  is 
in  fact  a  portable  stone  altar,  without  which  no  priest  can  celebrate  unless  by 
Papal  dispensation,  which,  for  example,  is  accorded  to  missionaries  in  cases  of 
absolute  necessity.* 

In  the  Gallican  ritual  (which  was  in  use  certainly  as  far  back 
as  the  8th  century)  the  bishop,  at  the  consecration  of  a  new  church, 
makes  with  holy-water,  in  which  some  chrism  has  been  dropped, 
the  mortar  for  cementing  or  sealing-up  the  altar-stone.*  Under 
the  stone  are  first  placed  the  relics  of  the  saint,  and  the  stone  is 
then  thrice  over  anointed  in  the  middle  and  at  the  four  corners.* 
This  insertion  of  the  relics,  to  actually  represent  a  canonised 
saint-in-heaven,  was,  I  suggest,  at  first  a  substitution  for  the  pagan 

*  Montpellier  Catechisme  (1751),  iii,  255  to  266.  '  Ibid,  iii,  129. 
'  Psalm  XXV  (English  xxvi ;  habitatio  —  tabernacle  in  R.V.). 

*  HieroUxicon  (Roma  1677),  pp.  25,  26. 

*  Duchesne:  Orig,  du  Culte  Chretien  (1889),  P-  39»-         *  I^i<f^  392,  397,  468. 


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Jlfy^As.]     Natiwal  Magnets;  Meteorites ;  Bith-^ls.        "5 

god  (id  est  Christian  devil)  who  was  believed  to  reside  in,  to 
animate,  the  stone  ( — and  may  even  have  been  to  oust,  to  eject,  to 
cast  out  that  devil).  And  so  the  altar-stone  is  still  viewed  as 
the  tombstone  of  the  saint^  It  is  a  sort  of  lesser  or  **  little  beth- 
el "  in  point  of  fact. 

In  the  Syriac  version  of  the  Theophania  (ii,  62)  attributed  to  Eusebius,*  it  is 
stated  that  "  the  Dumatians  (Doumatioi)  of  Arabia  sacrificed  a  boy  annually. 
Him  they  buried  beneath  the  altar,  and  this  they  used  as  an  IdoL" 

The  Gallican  bishop  in  the  lustration  of  the  new  altar  makes 
crosses  at  the  four  angles  with  holy  lustral  water,  and  then  walks 
seven  times  round  the  altar,  sprinkling  it  from  a  bunch  of  hyssop 
with  the  same  water.'  It  seems  very  important  for  my  arguments 
that  an  antiphon  sung  during  the  ceremony  of  the  anointing  is  : 
"  Erexit  Jacob  lapidem  in  titulum,  fundens  oleum  desuper,"  etc.  ;* 
and  that  during  the  unctions  a  priest  continually  walks  round  the 
altar  fumigating  it  with  incen^^.*  (But  my  reader  will  not  be  able 
to  give  its  full  weight  to  this  until  the  section  on  "  Circular  Wor- 
ship *'  is  reached.)  The  bishop  finally  places  ignited  burning 
incense  on  the  altar  in  the  shape  of  a  cross,  which  is  an  obvious 
perpetuation,  and  celebration  onge-for-all,  of  the  burnt  oflTerings  pp 
pre-Christian  altars.*  In  the  Byzantine  ritual  the  altar-stone  is 
sometimes  cemented  on  to  supporting  pillars  by  the  bishop,  some-? 
times  on  to  a  solid  base  ;  and  it  is  washed  first  with  baptismal 
water  and  then  with  wine,  and  then  anointed  with  chrism,  {xvpov^ 

The  bruxa^  are  the  evil-spirits  or  winches  of  Portugal.  Some  people  always 
wear  as  a  protection  against  them  a  little  bag  which  hangs  round  the  peck  by  ^ 
string  and  contains  a  chip  of  stone  from  an  altar,  a  bayleaf,  a  leaf  of  rue  and  of 
the  olive,  and  a  sprig  of  the  Herva  da  Injeva,** 

The  legend  of  the  adjective  "  Venerabilis  "  in  Bede's  name — which  has  just 
been  cited  as  an  excellent  authority —deserves  recording  in  tjiis  section  op 
animated  stones.  Two  stories  are  told.  In  the  first,  Bede  is  blind  and  is  taken 
by  some  scoffer  in  bad  faith  into  a  certain  valley  to  preach,  where  there  was 
nothing  to  preach  to  but  the  stones  around.  When  he  ended  his  sermon  with 
the  words  per  omnia  saecula  saeculorum,  the  stones  reverberated  "Amen, 
Venerabilis  Pater."  Others  added  that  the  angels  said  over  and  above  "  Ben^ 
dixisti  Venerabilis  Pater."  The  other  tale  is  that  after  Bede's  holy  death  s^ 
certain  cleric,  having  to  cut  his  epitaph  on  a  stone,  began  thus :  Hac  sunt  in 
fossa,  lEjut  he  could  think  of  no  other  words  to  add  than  Bedae  ossa,  which 
would  not  make  a  scanning  versp  ;  and  there  he  stuck.     Tired  with  cudgelling 

"  Duchesne:    Ori^,  du  Culte  Chritien  (1889),  p.  392. 

'  Dr.  S.  Lee's  translation,  1843,  P-  ^22.  »  Duchesne,  396. 

^  See  Genesis  xxxv,  15.  '  Duchesne,  397.  ®  Ibids  398. 

'  Ibid,  401.  •  O.  Crawfurd's  Kound  the  Calendar  in  Portugal,  P-  9>. 


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126  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

his  brains  he  fell  asleep,  and  when  he  awoke  he  found  the  stone  cut  by  angels 

with  : 

Hac  sunt  in  fossa  Bedae  Venerabilis  ossju? 

We  have  talking  stones  also  in  the  Arabian  Night's  tale  of  the  Peri  Banu. 

They  have  been  men,  which  is  a  reversion  of  the  Deuk^lidn  myth.     1^ umbers  of 

Greek  deities  are  changed  to  stone  (see  Index). 


There  are  a  black  lake,  a  black  precipice,  and  a  Black  Stqne  qf  the  Swarthy 
— Llyn  Pur,  Clogwyn  Dur,  ar>d  Maen  Dur  Arddu — near  Lower  Llanberris  ;' 
and  I  have  come  across  the  (fallen)  worship  of  the  Black  Stone  in  an  out-of-the- 
way  place.  In  Kilian's  Flemish-Latin  etymological  dictionary,  1 574,  under  the 
word  Alve,  is  given  from  some  nameless  rhymester  a  long  catalogue  of  all  the 
terms  for  demons  known  to  the  writer.  Among  these  figures  "  zwarte  Piet," 
black  Pete,  But  it  is  obvigus  that  Peter  has  naught  to  dp  here  expept,  as  in 
saltpetre  (sal  petrae),  in  the  sense  of  rock,  stone.  "  Zwarte  piet "  is  thus  simply 
the  Black  Stone  of  ancient  stone-worship.  Qddly  eijough  this  Ipads  me  to  an 
explanation  of  the  word  Pet  in  the  "  Pet  au  Diable  ^*  of  the  qctave  Ixxviii  of  Villon's 
Grand  Testament,  There  was  a  to\yer  of  the  Pejt  au  Diable  in  the  enclosure  of 
Philippe-Auguste  in  Paris ;  but  the  clever  and  learned  Villopist  M.  Marcel 
Schwob  has  actually  discovered  propf  of  a  stone  pf  that  nanie,  and  has  kindly 
comn>unicated  to  me  the  following  particulars  on  the  subject. 

In  1453  some  30  or  40  student^  were  arrested  in  Paris  for  an  upji^^ual  out- 
burst. In  the  criminal  registers  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  le  Liieutenant 
Crimiijel  deppses,  on  9th  May,  1453,  que  plusieurs  escoliers  opt  fait  plusieiirs 
grains  exc^s  ;  comme  ....  ont  arrachd  une  pierre  appelj^e  Pet-au-Diable 
de  Fostel  d'une  damoiselle  de  ceste  ville  qui  faisoit  bourne  ;  et  [Font]  pprtde  au 
Mont  Saint- Hilaire  .  .  .  Derechief  ont  est^  querir  en  Tostel  de  ladite 
damoiselle  une  autre  pierre  qu'elle  avoit  fait  mettre  .  ,  .  ppt  atachi^ 
.  .  .  la  dite  grosse  pierre  QM  Mont  Sainte-Geneviefye  j  et  toutes  les  nuyts  y 
ont  fait  danses  k  fieutes  et  k  bedons  .  .  .  .  eX  d  la  grosse  pierre  ont  baiUi^ 
ung  chapeau  tous  les  dimanches  et  autres  festes.  Et  quaint  le  Prevost  et  lui 
[le  Lieutenant  Criminel]  y  al^rent  pour  I'avoir,  [la  pjerfe]  avojt  upg  chapeau  de 
romarin. 

It  seems  to  me  most  likely  that  the  original  fundamental  meaning  of  this 
<P^/-au-Diable  was  the  Devil's  Stone  |  and  that  the  students'  racket  was  a  survival 
of  some  older  saturnalia  in  stone-worship. 

Students  also  played  high  jinks  at  a  **  Druidical  stone  "  near  Poitiers ;  a 
feet  which  Rabelais  (ii,  5)  dressed  up  thus  :  De  fait  vjnt  [Pantagruel]  k  Poictiers 
pour  estudier,  et  y  profita  beaucoup.  Auquel  lieu  voyant  que  les  escoliers  estoient 
aucunes  fois  de  loisir,  et  ne  savoient  k  quoy  passer  temps,  il  en  eut  compassion. 
Et  un  jour  prit,  d'un  grand  rochier  qu'pn  nomme  Passelourdin,  une  grosse  roche 
ayant  environ  de  douze  toises  en  carr^,  et  d'epaisseur  quatorze  pans,  et  la  mit  sur 
quatre  pilliers  au  milieu  d'un  champ,  bien  k  son  aise ;  afin  que  lesdits  escoliers, 
quand  ilz  ne  sauroient  autre  chose  faire,  passassent  temps  k  monter  sur  ladite 

^  Hierolexicon  (Roma  1677),  p.  649.     See  also  p.  141  infra, 
*  Prof.  Rhjs  in  XlXth  Century,  Oct.  1891,  p.  568. 


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MythsT)^     Natural  Magnets ;  Meteorites  ;  BHh-Els.       127 

pierre,  et  Ik  banqueter  k  force  flaccons  jambons  et  pastds,  et  escrire  leurs  noms 
dessus  avec  un  cousteau ;  et  de  present  I'appelle-on  la  Pierre  Lev^e.  Et  en 
memoire  de  ce,  n'est  aujourd'huy  pass^  aucun  en  la  matricule  de  ladite  university 
de  Poictiers  sinon  qu'il  ait  beu  en  la  Fontaine  caballine*  de  Croustelles,  passd 
k  Passelourdin,'  et  montd  sur  la  Pierre  Lev^e.* 


In  Brinton's  Annals  of  the  Cakchiquels  of  Cei^tral  America  there  is  an 
important,  mysterious,  primeval  and  animated  obsjdian  stone.  The  Mexican 
goddess  Citlalicue  gave  birth  to  a  flint-knife  which  was  flung  down  from  heaven 
and  became  1,^00  gods. 

Mr.  J.  P.  Bro^yn  in  hi§  book  on  The  Dervishes  (Triibner,  1868) 
gave  the  following  information  (in  the  larger  type) :  The  Ruf^i 
dervisl^es  (^nd  ^Iso  the  kadiri  of  Cyprus),  our  "  howling  dervishes,^' 
we^r  Zf  "stone  qf  contentment"  kan^'at  t^shi,  in  the  middle  of 
their  belts. 

It  is  thus  at  the  Omphalos,  and  deserves  especial  notice  in  reference  to  my 
theories  about  the  ©  symbol.  It  is  either  a  round  or  a  twelve-cornered  stone  \ 
and  the  girdle  in  which  it  is  worn  is  called  the  taibend,  not  the  kamberieh. 
This  stone  seems  tp  be  also  called  a  pelenk. 

In  the  girdle  of  the  Bekt^Lshi  is  a  seven-pointed  stone,  th^ 
pelenk. 

So  Mr.  Browp,  p.  145  ;  but  on  the  most  careful  examination  and  cross-examina- 
tion of  Mevlevi  and  BektishJ  dervishes  in  Cyprus,  with  the  kind  help  of  the 
Island  Treasurer,  Mr.  Frank  G.  Glossop,  no  trace  whatever  of  a  seven-angled 
stone  can  be  obtained  ;  although  I  have  secured  specimens  of  every  stone  worn, 
through  the  agency  of  a  Turkish  gentleman  who  got  them  for  me  with  great 
difliculty  in  ^tambfil 

And  there  is  another  round  or  oblong  crystal  stone,  the  nejef,  which 
is  worn  by  any  deryish,  but  the  Bekt&shi  are  more  particular  in 
wearing  it 

This  stone  is  either  an  ^%%  or  pear  shaped  agate  (the  pelenk  kamberieh)  or  an 
elongated  crystal  octahedron  (the  nejef  kamberieh).  I  have  a  specimen  of 
each,  mounted  in  silver,  and  hung  by  strong  silken  cords. 
Nejef  is  the  name  of  the  mine  or  quarry  whence  the  stone  so- 
called  comes,  and  it  is  held  to  contain  a  sign  of  the  hair  of  Hussein. 
It  is  tied  round  the  waist  with  the  three-knotted  cord  called  kam- 
berieh, which  denotes  a  follower  of  AH.  The  stone,  say  these 
dervishes,  which  Moses  wore  he  called  dervish-dervishdn,  and  it  had 

'  A  hors<e-fom^tain,  like  Hippokr^n6,  at  Croustelles  near  Poitiers. 

*  Belleforest  also  mentiops  this  in  his  Bandello*s  32nd  Tale  :  **  pass^  sur  le  roc 
Passe- Lourdip  ^  Poictiers  pour  se  bien  former  la  cervelle." 

*  Engraved  in  the  Mc^asin  pittoresqtu  for  January  1845,  ^'^"^  Georges  Braun*s 
Tfuatrum  urbium^  as  seen  at  the  close  of  the  1 6th  century.  Several  students  are  seen 
on  the  stone. 


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128 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


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twelve  holes  [compare  the  breast-plate  of  Aaron.     I.  O'N.].     The 

Bektisht  have  yet  another  stone,  worn  round  the  neck,  the  teslim 

t&shi  or  stone  of  submission  to  the  twelve  Imims.     The  cord  which 

passes  through  the  teslim  t^shi  is  connected  by  passing  the  nejef 

through  its  ends,  and  then  fastening  round  the  waist  to  the  kam- 

berieh. 

These  stones  are  also  twelve-angled  —everything  in  the  order,  says  a  Bekt4shi, 

is  twelve.     The  larger  stone  is  the  teslim  tishi  bilim  ;  the  smaller  is  called  the 

teslim  tishi  simply.     I  give  full-sized  superposed  half-outlines  of  these,  and  of 

the  kani'at  tdshi ;  with  their  weights. 

The  stone   of  the   Bekt^shi's   convent-hall    is   eight-angled,  and 

has  a  candle  in  its  centre  or  Eye.    Upon  it  the  postulant  is  received 

into  the  Path. 

As  to  this  I  have  no  corroboration. 


Ir 


Crystal  Teslim  tishi  of  the  Bektishi  dervishes.  Weight  as  mounted 
67  granmies.  The  dotted  lines  a  show  the  tubular  transverse  hole  of 
suspension. 

2.  Greenish  agate.    Teslim  tAshibAlim  of  the  Bektishi.    Weight  as  mounted 

196  grammes.     Dotted  lines  b  as  No.  i. 

3.  Whitish  agate,  with  round  suspension  hole  through  the  middle,  r.    (This 

hole,  as  drawn,  only  belongs  to  this  biggest  stone).    There  is  no 
transverse  piercing.    Weight  unmounted  394  grammes. 
[Average  thickness  of  Nos.   i  and  2  is  10  decimetres.     Of  fJo.  3,  12  deci- 
mMres.J 


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Myths,^  The  Loadstone  Mountain.  129 


10. — The  Loadstone  Mountain. 

THERE  IS  a  curious  Orissa  legend  about  the  temple  of  Kandrak 
(Black-pagoda).  In  front  of  the  gate  stands  an  octagonal 
pillar  of  black  stone,  fifty  ^^^r  (yards)  high.  The  numerous  ship- 
wrecks on  the  coast  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal  near  Kan^rak  were 
assigned  by  the  legeftd  to  a  "  huge  lodestone,  kumbha-pithar,  on 
the  summit  of  the  tower,"  which  drew  the  vessels  on  the  sands 
until  "  a  musalmdn  crew  scaled  the  temple  "  \i,e,  the  tower  of  the 
temple  ?]  and  carried  off  the  magnet^  This  is  a  variant  of  the 
loadstone  mountain  in  Sindbad's  voyages,  and  in  the  legend  of 
Oger  le  Danois.*  Another  is  the  Monte  Calamitico,  the  mediaeval 
magnetic  Northern  mountain  in  the  Ocean,  told  of  by  Olaus 
Magnus'  and  referred  to  in  Humboldt's  Cosmos  (ii,  659  ;  v,  55). 

Monte  Calamitico  {see  also  p.  106  supra)  must  mean  Calamitous  Mountain, 
unless  it  means  Calamus  or  Reed  Mountain,  which  is  not  impossible.  Calamita 
is  still  the  name  for  the  magnet  in  Italian,  and  Littrd  says  that  was  because  the 
magnetic  needle  was  put  in  a  reed  to  float  on  the  water.  KeLKaiilra  in  modem 
Greek  may  be  lingua  Franca,  but  Kaka}jMs  was  equally  a  reed  in  ancient  Greek. 

I  believe  ttJ^^H  khallimtsh  means  a  hard  stone  or  rock,  and  that  HtO'^bp 
kalammitah,  which  is  found  for  the  magnet  in  ancient  Jewish  prayers,  may  be 
European.^  As  for  pursuing  the  calamitous  interpretation,  it  is  not  easy,  and 
honestly  I  give  it  up. 

The  myth  was  widespread.  Innocent  IV*senvoy  brought  back 
in  1246  a  tale  that  the  Caspian  mountains  were  of  adamantine 
stone,  and  drew  unto  them  the  iron  arrows  and  weapons  of  the 
invading  host  of  Jinghis  Khan.^  Now  all  these  seem  to  be  natural- 
magnet  and  not  meteoric  myths. 

The  Post  Angela  or  the  Athenian  Mercury^  an  old  magazine  published  in 
1 701,  in  its  "Answers  to  Correspondents*'  had  the  following  ;  "  Q.  Why  does 
the  needle  in  the  sea-compass  always  turn  to  the  North  ?  A,  The  most  received 
opinion  is  that  there  is  under  our  North  pole  a  huge  black  Rock,  from  under 
which  the  Ocean  issueth  in  4  currents  answerable  to  the  4  comers  of  the 
Earth  or  4  winds  ;  which  rock  is  thought  to  be  all  of  a  Loadstone,  so  that  by 
a  kind  of  affinity  it  draweth  all  such  like  stones  or  other  metals  touched  by  them 
towards  it"    Here  we  have  also  the  heavens-rivers,  and  the  Four  Points. 

*  Hunter's  Orissa^  pp.  289,  seq.  *  Keary  :  Outlines  of  Prim,  Beliefs^  453. 
»  I.  B.  della  Porta,  Magia  Naturalis,  1651,  p.  288. 

^  Klaprotb,  La  BoussoU^  I5»  24. 

*  Hakluyt :  Voy.  of  J.  de  Piano  Carpini,  ch.  xiL 

I 


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130  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

Klaproth  quoted  the  following  from  the  Nan-chuan  i-weh  chi^ 
"Notes  on  Southern  Marvels,"  (of  our  nth  century,  or  before): 
"  At  the  capes  and  headlands  of  the  chang  hai  (sea)  the  waters  are 
shoal  and  there  are  many  loadstones,  so  that  if  the  great  foreign 
ships  which  are  clad  with  iron  plates  approach  them,  they  are 
arrested,  and  none  of  them  can  pass  by  these  places,  which  are  said 
to  be  very  numerous  in  the  South  sea." 

Note  the  ignorance  here.  The  narrator  of  this  North-polar  fable  clearly 
knew  not  that  the  South  end  of  the  magnet  is  repellent  of  iron  ;  and  was 
following  merely  the  Chinese  name  for  the  compass :  "  the  wheel  that  shows 
the  SouthP    He  is  thus  wrong  toto  coelo  in  feet 

It  is  strange  that  Ptolemy^  (first  century  ?)  related  almost  the 
same  thing  of  the  same  seas.  His  source  must  have  been  also  that 
pf  the  Chinese  tale.  "  They  relate,"  he  says,  "  that  at  the  Manioles 
islands  ships  with  iron  bolts  are  arrested,  and  that  for  that  reason 
they  build  ships  with  wooden  pegs,  so  that  the  Heraklean  stone 
which  there  grows  may  not  attract  them." 

In  the  De  Martinis  Brachmanorum?  attributed  to  St.  Ambrose 
(4th  century),  "  the  stone  called  Magnes  is  found  at  the 
Mammoles*  islands.  They  say  it  attracts  by  its  strength  the 
nature  of  iron.  Consequently  if  a  ship  which  has  iron  nails  draw 
near,  it  is  there  held,  and  can  no  more  depart  for  other  where,  by  I 
know  not  what  hidden  hinderment  of  this  stone.  For  this  reason 
they  employ  none  but  wooden  pegs  in  the  building  of  ships." 
These  old  lies  must  have  partly  arisen  in  a  bad  shot  at  the  reason 
for  the  timber  nails. 

In  the  Arabic  Geography  of  Sherlf  Edrisi,*  "  El  Mandeb  is  a 
mountain  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  sea,  and  highest  on  the 
Southern  side  [that  is  the  side  which  looks  South,  as  the  Polar  deity 
was  bound  to  do].  A  mountain  which  extends  transversely  on  the 
South  they  call  Muruk6in,  and  it  is  a  continuous  mass  of  rocks. 
The  author  of  the  Book  of  Wonders  [odd  reminder  of  the  Chinese 
treatise]  relates  that  no  vessel  furnished  with  iron  nails  can  pass 
near  this  mountain  without  being  drawn  and  retained  by  it, 
insomuch  that  the  ship  can  never  again  escape  therefrom." 
Elsewhere  this  Abu  Abdallah  Mohammed  al  Edrisi  describes  a 

•  Geog,  vii,  2. 

'  Palladius,  S.  Ambrosius  (et  csetera)  ;  editio  Bissteus.     Londini,  1665,  p.  59. 
■  See  what  is  said  p.  146  of  Lydius  as  a  name  for  the  loadstone.     Lyde,  Avfti;*  was 
great-breasted  (Juvenal  ii,  140).    Lydise  tumentes  occurs  in  the  Silvia  of  Statius  i,  6,  7a 

*  Written  1 1 53.     Arabic,  Rome  1592.     French  (Am^d^  Jaubert)  1836. 


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Myt/isJ]  The  Loadstone  Mountain.  13^ 

great  gulf  extending  towards  the  South,  and  a  high  mountain  which 
forces  voyagers  out  of  their  straight  course.  The  mountain  is 
called  Adjerad  [which  may  be  for  al  jertd,  the  palm-stick,  the  Spear- 
mountain  of  the  Universe],  "whose  flanks  are  furrowed  on  all 
sides  by  waters  which  fall  with  a  terrific  noise  *'  [which  might  be  a 
straight  description  of  the  descent  of  the  rivers  of  the  Northern 
heavens-mountain].  "  This  mountain  draws  unto  it  the  vessels 
that  come  near,  and  so  mariners  have  a  care  to  give  it  a  wide 
berth," 

In  the  Arabic  treatise  on  Stones  which  pretended  to  be  by 
Aristotle,  "there  is  in  the  sea  a  mountain  formed  of  this  stone.  If 
ships  approach  it  they  lose  their  nails  and  their  ironwork,  which 
separate  of  themselves  and  fly  like  birds  towards  the  mountain, 
without  the  force  of  their  cohesion  [in  the  timbers]  being  able  to 
retain  them.  .That  is  why  they  do  not  bolt-together  with  iron 
nails  the  ships  that  sail  this  sea,  but  employ  for  binding  their  parts 
ropes  made  of  cocoatree  fibres,  which  are  then  fastened  with 
pegs  of  a  soft  wood  that  swells-up  in  the  water."  Another  instance 
of  the  snapshot  conjecture.  This  is  found  again  in  Vincent  de 
Beauvais,  who  curiously  quoted  for  it  another  apocryphal  Book  on 
Stones  which  he  attributed  to  Galen.* 

In  the  French  story  of  the  Chevalier  Berinus  and  his  son 
Champion  Aigres  de  TAimant,  ships  are  drawn  towards  the  huge 
Rock  of  Aimant,  and  adhere  to  it.  An  inscription  on  the  rock 
says  that  if  one  man  consents  to  remain  behind,  and  then  throws 
the  Ring  which  is  on  the  rock  into  the  sea,  the  ships  will  be  freed. 
The  lot  falls  on  Aigres,  who  subsequently  escapes  (on  finding  a 
substitute  in  another  fleet  of  doom),  and  carries  off  a  horse,  a 
sword,  and  armour.* 

The  mountain  in  the  sixth  voyage  of  Sindbad  is  a  mass  of 
treasure.  All  the  stones  that  lie  about  are  rock-crystal,  rubies, 
emeralds  and  so  forth.  And  a  great  river  of  soft-water  runs  from 
the  sea  into  a  dark  grotto  in  the  mountain,  whose  opening  is 
extremely  lofty  and  wide.  In  the  Third  Kalender*s  story  the 
Black  Mountain  is  an  aimant-mine  which  attracts  the  fleet  of  ships, 
because  of  their  nails  and  ironworks,  for  two  days  before  the 
catastrophe  ;  which  ensues  upon  the  drawing-out  and  flight  to  the 
moimtain  of  all  the  bolts  that  hold  the  keels  together.  All  these 
irons  strike  the  rock  with   a   horrible  noise  and  stick  on  to  its 

*  klaproth,  La  BoussoUy  1834,  123.  •  Clouston*s  Pop,  Tales ,  i,  104. 

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132  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 


surface.  The  ships  then  fall  to  pieces,  and  their  contents  sink  to 
the  bottom  of  the  plumbless  deep.  The  whole  seaside  of  the 
mountain  is  thus  a  mass  of  nails  which  preserve  and  augment  its 
virtue.  The  mountain  is  very  steep,  and  on  its  summit  is  a  dome 
of  bronze  upheld  by  columns  of  bronze.  On  the  top  of  the  dome 
again,  is  a  bronze  horse  bearing  a  rider  who  has  a  leaden  plate  on 
his  breast  covered  with  talismanic  characters.  This  statue  is  the 
cause  of  the  magnetism. 

[Must  we  not  here  detect  some  survival  of  a  lott  knowledge  as  to  the 
electric  action  of  pairs  of  metals  ?] 

The  stairway  to  the  mountain-top  is  so  narrow,  steep,  and  difficult 
as  to  be  all  but  impracticable  by  the  one  man  who  finds  salvation, 
Ajib,  the  Kalender,  son  of  Kassib.  He,  advised  by  a  venerable 
Old  Man  in  a  dream,  digs  for  a  bronze  bow  and  three  arrows  of 
lead  made  under  certain  constellations.  These  arrows  he  fires  at 
the  statue,  and  at  the  third  bolt  the  horseman  falls  into  the  sea, 
the  horse  tumbles-dov/n,  and  is  buried  by  order  in  the  hole  where 
the  bow-and-arrows  came  from.  The  sea  then  rises  to  the  top  of 
the  mountain,  a  man  of  bronze  rows-up  in  a  boat  and  saves  Ajib, 
under  the  condition  (announced  by  the  Old  Man)  that  he  utter 
not  the  name  of  Allah.  On  the  ninth  day  he  does  however 
say  "  Allah  be  blessed  and  praised,"  and  the  boat  sinks  under 
him.* 

Here  we  clearly  have  (as  the  Reader  will  prove  in  the  course  of 
the  Inquiry)  the  northern  jewelled  heavens-mountain  and  dome ; 
th  *  heavens-river  ;  the  pillars  of  the  heavens  ;  the  central  centaur- 
gods  fallen  from  their  high  estate  (because  inimical  to  Allah)  ;  the 
Old  Man  of  the  Mountain  ;  the  heavens-ladder  or  stairs  ;  and  the 
heavens-boat — all  subjects  here  necessarily  treated-of  before  this 
Tale  was  here  analysed.  The  bow  and  the  ring,  too,  are  of  the 
commonest  figures  for  the  heavens. 

It  is  well  known  that  there  exist  on  the  shores  of  the  globe  natural  facts 
which  furnish  a  commonplace  foundation  for  this  Loadstone-mountain  legend. 
H.M.S.  "Serpent"  was  totally  wrecked  in  November  1890  off  the  Spanish 
coast  near  Camarinas,  on  a  reef  called  Laja  del  Buey  or  Bullock's  Ledge  ;  and 
an  experienced  officer  of  the  Spanish  admiralty,  who  knew  the  spot  of  the 
wreck  well,  said  that  the  Serpent's  compasses  may  have  been  disturbed  by  the 
vast  masses  of  iron  on  the  coast.  She  went  down  a  few  moments  after  she 
struck  on  th^  rocks,  and  only  three  sailors  were  cast  ashore  alive.*  Great 
numbers  of  wrecks  attributable  to  this  cause  take  place  on  the  North  West 

*  GaUand*s  i^ooi  Nuits^  Paris,  1806.  «  Morttin^  Post^  14  Nov.  1890. 


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Myths^  The  Loadstone  Mountain,  T33 

Spanish  coasts ;  and  it  is  very  noteworthy  what  an  influence  the  enormous 
quantities  of  iron  in  some  of  the  Galician  mountains  exercise  on  the  needles  of 
ships'  compasses  ;  necessarily  at  a  very  considerable  distance  too. 

The  earliest  origin  for  this  Metal  Man  on  the  Mountain  that  I 
have  found  is  in  the  Argonautika  of  Apollonios  of  Rhodes 
(iv,  1638  etc).  Brazen  Tal6s  prevents  the  Argo  from  mooring  at 
the  Diktaion  haven  by  breaking-off  rocks  to  hurl  down  from  the 
hard  cliff.  He  was  a  demigod  of  the  brazen  stock  of  men  sprung 
from  ash*trees  (ji^Xi'q'yevitov).  The  son  of  Kronos  gave  him  to 
Europa  to  be  warden  of  Crete  (K/ji^tt;)  where  he  roamed  with 
brazen  feet  (A  Magnus  incident  which  also  clearly  brackets  him 
with  CEdipus.)  He  was  of  brass  unbreakable  ;  only  at  the  ankle 
was  a  thinskinned  vein  of  blood  where  lay  the  issues  of  life  and 
death  (an  Achilles  incident).*  M^deia  however  bewitched  the 
sight  of  brazen  Talds  with  her  evil  eye  ;  and  he  scratched  his  ankle 
against  the  rock.  Forth  gushed  the  stream  of  life  like  molten  lead ; 
and  like  some  towering  pine  the  mighty  giant  stood  awhile  upright 
on  his  tireless  (iv,  1687)  feet,  then  fell  at  last  with  weighty  crash. 

[Here  again  we  have  the  pair  of  metals ;  and  I  think  it  is  worthy  of  all 
notice  that  they  were  brass  and  lead,  -f^akK^i  and  fioki^dos,  while  Volta  made  his 
pile  of  copper  and  zinc] 

In  another  myth  of  Tal6s,  his  uncle  and  master  DaiDalos,  the  supreme 
architect  (dpxi-^dicrmv  tipurros)  and  first  inventor  of  statues,  jealous  of  his  rivalry 
(a  clear  war-in-heaven)  tast  him  down  from  the  Acropolis,*  or  heavens-palace ; 
by  fraud  said  Hellanikos  (/rag:  82). 

Here  we  clearly  have  the  Creator  of  the  Universe  making  man,  as  is  shown 
here  imder  the  heading  of  "  The  Tree."  DaiDalos  also  invented  the  drill  which 
is  worked  by  revolution  (the  centrebit),  and  Tal6s  the  potter's  wheel  and  the 
turning  lathe.  These  three  rotating  machines  complete  a  connexion  of  both 
these  divine  powers  with  the  inventor  of  the  rotating  machine  of  the  Universe. 

I  think  we  must  inevitably  take  TaXa)9  to  be  identical  with 
TaXao9,  and  that  the  origin  of  both  stares  us  in  the  face  in  the 
second,  which  is  TA-Aao9  =  stretched-stone,  that  is  tall-stone. 
Prof.  Skeat  having  said  in  his  Dictionary  (to  which  I  am  through- 
out this  Inquiry  so  deeply  and  widely  indebted)  that  "  further  light 
is  desired  as  to  this  difficult  word,  tall,"  I  suggest  that  we  have  it 
here  and  in  the  Welsh  and  Cornish  tal  =  high,  tal  cam  =  high 
rock,  as  well  as  in  the  Irish  teal3ich  a  hillock.  The  French  talus, 
too,  still  retains  the  sense  of  a  steep.  If  there  be  anything  in  all 
this,  it  may  afford  us  the  true  clue  to  talisman^  as  originally  a  holy 
stone.     The  genealogy  of  DaiDalos  and  Talds  was  as  follows : 

*  See  also  ApolL  BM  i,  9,  26,  4.  •  Apoll.  BM  iii,  15,  8,  10,  etc. 


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134  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 

r 


ErechTheus=T=  PraxiThea 


Meti6n  =t=  Alkippe 

I 


I 

Eupalainos:=  ? 

{or  Metioa  =7=  Iphino6)  M6tiaDousa=^  Kekrops  II 

(Kekrop  I  was 
autochthonous) 


I 


Peniw  =p  ?  PanDidn  11^  Pelia,  dau.  of  Pulas 


T 


^   n   71. 

I'y- vaiLuuo^  Kills  laios     incuewi  T- Aigeus.  Pall 


(  ?)=jp  PaiDaloi  kills  Tal6s     M^Deia  =t=  Aigeus.  Pal  Las  Nisos    Lukos 

(see  pp.  48,  49) 
Ikaros  (The  Pandionidae) 

V , f 

(line  dies  out) 

M^Dos 

[Of  course  the  pair  named  PanDidn  and  the  pair  named  Kekrops  must  be 
taken  as  different  accoimts  and  differing  genealogies  of  the  same  primitive 
powers.  Ikaros  and  Ikarios  have  been  taken  by  many  ancients  to  be  the 
same.] 

Atlas  was  a  mountain  as  well  as  a  personal  god,  and  TaI6s  was 
on  a  mountain,  and  it  was  standing-stones  that  were  placed  on 
mountain-tops  as  gods,  or  as  their  symbols ;  as  symbols  (I  main- 
tain) of  tb€i  axis-god.  This  completes  the  connection  between 
uncle  and  nephew,  between  DaiDalos  and  Tal6s  as  stone-deities ; 
and  TaLds-TaLaos  is  thus  an  axis-god,  an  AtLas ;  being  thus  also 
an  Upbearer,  a  Supporter,  which  sense  we  find  in  the  analogous  word 
TciXam ;  and  the  idea  of  the  necessary  firmness  of  his  base,  of  his 
brazen  feet,  we  find  again  in  the  Latin  talus,  "  the  ankle,  the  lower 
part  of  the  foot,  the  heel " — that  is,  clearly  and  broadly,  the  foot 
itself. 

The  connection  with  raXavroy,  a  balance,  must  thus  be  by  the  standard  of 
the  balance.  Talea  was  also  a  small  stake,  a  picket ;  and  here  must  be  left  for 
future  exposition,  or  not,  the  cry  ("  as  old  as  Romulus ")  of  Talassio  I  or 
Talassius  I  at  nuptial  ceremonies.  It  represented  the  'Y/ii;v,  £  vftcVme  of  the 
Greeks,  and  Martial  (xii,  96,  $)  rendered  it  by  copulatio.  I  think  he  wasn't  far 
wrong.    The  "  man  named  Talassius  "  in  Festus  was  also  on  the  spot 

The  adjective  tireless,  aKafiaro^^  gives  us  another  significance  of 
the  brazen  feet  in  the  myth — that  is  the  walking  or  running, 
instead  of  the  wheeling,  round  of  the  Universe  ;  and  may  indicate 
a  devout  theory  antecedent  to  the  discovery  of  the  wheel.  French 
still  retains  *^  U  marche  des  astres,"  and  in  ornate  English  we  have 


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Myths^  The  Loadstone  Mountain.  135 

not  yet  done  with  "the  majestic  prc^ess  of  the  sprfieres."  This 
indeed  may  be  the  true  clue  to  the  now  hidden  meaning  of  all  the 
footprint  legends  which  are  so  fully  treated  of  under  the  heading 
-  Buddha's  Footprint" 

Thus  we  should  have  the  Tal6s  myth  englobing  (as  the 
majority  of  myths  do)  a  confusion  of  conceptions — of  the  firmly 
planted  feet  of  the  heavens-axis  god,  and  of  the  tireless  feet  of  the 
running-heavens  god  The  **  tireless  "  idea  we  come  upon  again  in 
the  derivation  (by  the  scholiast  on  Euripides)  of  Atlas  from 
a-rTJiv  un-fatiguable,  which  is  dealt-with  under  "Atlas."  The 
connection  of  Talds  or  Talaos  with  Atlas  and  EphiAltfis  seems 
inevitable. 

TanTalos  seems  to  me  to  be  a  form  of  Talos,  where  t6v  belongs  to  rm^ 
and  means  outstretched,  or  else  is  tw,  Sir  ;  like  Dan  Sol,  for  example.  In  the 
first  case,  we  should  have  TAN-TA-AoAr,  where  the  first  two  root-syllables  would 
be  a  reduplication  ;  for  TA  is  now  taken  as  =  TAN,  stretched. 

Mighty,  fjJya<i,  Talaos  and  Ar^ios  (an  Arte-name)  came  forth 
from  Argos  (the  heavens)  and  were  the  sons  of  Bias.*  Talaos  was 
father  of  six  sons  (and  a  daughter  who  married  AmphiAraos) 
among  whom  were  M^kisteus  (the  longest  or  tallest,  perhaps  an 
Axis-name),'  AristoMachos  (best^mechanism)  and  Adrastos.* 
HippoMed6n  (a  central  horse-god)  was  also,  as  others  said,*  a  son 
of  Talaos.  The  //tad  (xxiii,  677)  makes  M^kisteus  come  to 
Thebes  after  the  burial  of  OidiPous  (with  whom  I  have  already 
bracketed  Talds)  and  overcome  all  the  sons  of  Kadmos.  Melam- 
Pous  (blackfoot)  was  brother  of  Bias*  (and  uncle  of  Talaos),  so 
that  the  feet  were,  as  we  should  expect,  in  the  family ;  and  note,  in 
reference  to  what  I  advance  elsewhere  as  to  Aiguptos  being  a 
celestial  spot,  that  it  was  previously  called  the  place  (x^«)  of 
MelamPous.* 

Hesychius  mentions  Greek  games  In  honour  of  Zeus  Talaios. 
AmphiAraos,  who  killed  Talaos  (MelamPous  also  killed  him),  and 
so  usurped  the  rule  of  Argos,  has  the  Spear  and  Universe-tree  in 
his  myth.  An  eagle  swoops  down  upon  the  lance,  carries  it  off,  and 
where  it  lets  it  fall  again  it  sticks-in  and  becomes  a  laurel.  The 
Earth  opens  and  receives  AmphiAraos  with  his  chariot  and  his 
horses — a  note,  as  I  believe,  of  an  axis-god.  Talos  was  a  partisan 
of  Tumus,  and  was  killed  by  iEneas.     Here  the  connection  with 

*  Ar:pM.  i,  118 ;  ii,  63.        *  Might  also  -  firj  (mid)  +  Kicmj  (see  ** The  Arcana"). 
»  ApoU.  3iN,  i,  9,  13.  *  /h'd,  riS,  6,  3.  •  Vhertcydts/rag.  75. 

•  Apoll.  Bt'M.  ii,  I,  4,  5. 


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13^ 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


[Axis 


Turnus  (a  turning-heavens  god,  as  I  maintain)  again  points  to 
Talds  as  an  axis  or  socket  god. 

The  name  crops-up  again  in  Dionysius  of  Halicaniassus  (bk.  ii)  where  the 
Sabine  ToXXor  rvpapos  is  mentioned  as  an  ally  of  Tatius  ;  which  confirms  me  in 
my  connection  of  Taiius  >^ith  the  axis  ;  for  this  name  is  merely  an  adjectival 
form  of  the  above  root-word  TA,  outstretched,  tall.  Festus  also  said  Talus  was 
a  Sabine  prename.  Spenser  revived  Talus  as  an  iron  man  in  the  Faery  Queen 
(V,  i). 

The  connection  of  T^l^os  with  the  island  of  Kr6t6  and  thus  with  Tal6s  may 
be  made  another  way  by  his  descent  from  Kr^Theus,  as  follows  ; 

Ouranos 

I 


lapetos 

l_ 


I 
Kronos 


Rhe 


Prom6Theu8 


Atlas 


Peukalidn  ^  Purra 

"Hellte  y  Orseis 

D6ros  Aiolos  (the 

windgod  of 
Magnesia)  ^F  Enaret^ 


Sisuphos  Athamas         Magnus  Peri^r^ 


PeriM^dd 


=p  Sahndneus  (aad  wife  Sid^6) 


I 
KrfTheus  =?  Tur6  =F  Poseid6n 


J 


(EarthGod  ?) 


Ais6n  Pher^    Amutha6n  <f=  Eidomene 


1 


Pel 


liias 


mieus 


Ias6n    AdM^tos 


I 


Pher^ 


P^rds^Bias 
Lukourgos 


Illos  Mermeros  Taiaos  =t=  Lusimach^ 

( =  Marmor  ?) 


MelaniPous 


T 


HippoMeddn 


Adrastos        M^isteus  it,rX, 


[It  will  be  observed  that  D6ros  a  spear^axis-god,  Aiolos  the  Ether-god  of 
Magnesia,  Magnus,  Turd  (a  tower-axis-goddess?),  Poseiddn,  and  Ias6n,  arc  all 
in  this  most  respectable  family.     SalM6neus  (?  the  salt  one)  may  be  a  mere 

»  Hcll^n  was  also  son  «•  of  Zeus  "  ( -  Dies). 


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Myths.']  The  Loadstone  Mountain.  137 

alias  of  Poseid6n ;  and  Tur6's  being  the  consort  both  of  Poseid6n  and  Kr^Theus 
(Earth-god  ?)  could  be  interpreted  as  the  axis  extending  from  Earth  to  Cosmic 
Ocean.] 

There  is  one  of  the  islands  of  Mailduin's  voyage  that  seems  to  present  us 
with  some  Cosmic  allusions  to  the  revolutions  of  the  several  spheres,  and  also 
to  the  myth  of  Tal6s.  The  island  has  a  wall  (the  firmament  ?)  round  it.  An 
animal  of  vast  size,  with  thick  rough  skin,  runs  round  the  island  with  the 
swiftness  of  the  wind,  and  then  betakes  himself  to  a  large  flat  stone  on  a  high 
point,  where  he  daily  turns  himself  completely  round  and  round  within  his  skin 
which  remains  at  rest  Next  he  turns  his  skin  continually  round  his  body,  down 
one  side  and  up  on  the  other  like  a  milW'heel,  but  the  body  itself  moves  not 
Again,  he  whirls  the  skin  of  hjs  upper  half  round  and  round  like  a  flat-lying 
mill-stone,  while  the  skin  of  the  lower  half  remains  without  motion.  When 
Mailduin  and  his  companions,  in  terror  of  him,  take  to  flight,  he  flings  round 
stones  at  them,^  like  the  Kuklops  at  Odusseus. 

(See  the  section  on  "  The  River"  for  the  loadstone  at  the  bottom  of  the 
river  Llinon,  which  makes  it  impossible  to  cross  over  in  a  keel.) 

*  Dr.  Joyce's  Celtic  Romances ^  127,  128. 


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138  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 


r^ RETE.     Plato  in  his  explanation,  or  rather  in  his  explaining- 

away  of  the  Tal6s  myth,  gave  the  additional  incident  that 
Tal6s  had  to  make  the  round  of  the  island  of  Crete  three  times  to 
engrave  on  brass  the  Law  of  Minds,  Apollodoros^  said  Tal6s  ran 
thrice  daily  round  the  island,  'watching  it  Here  we  have  the 
tireless  feet  again,  and  this  brass  is  thus  the  brazen  heavens,  and 
the  Law  is  the  Tao,  the  Order,  of  the  Universe  ;  and  Kriti  tftust  6e, 
like  all  the  other  similar  mythic  islands^  a  figure  of  the  Earth  (see 
p,  33),  If  we  admit  this  interpretation,  it  sheds  a  flood  of  light  on 
the  grand  total  of  all  the  Cretan  most  archaic  myths  and  worship. 
Note  too  that  Crete  was  called  Chthonia  insula. 

And  then  where  are  we  to  search  for  the  meaning  of  the  word 
Kr6t^  ?  The  etymology  ought  also  to  give  us  that  of  the  Latin 
creta  chalk,  which  is  at  present  a  philologist's  blind  alley  ;  and 
I  think  the  true  sense  is  still  to  be  tracked  in  our  own  word  cu:crete  ; 
for  creta  as  a  portion  of  the  verb  crescere  to  appear,  surge-up, 
sprout,  receive  existence,  be  born  (earliest  meanings,  which  are 
confined  to  the  poets),  is  just  what  we  want.  And  we  are  thus  not 
so  very  far  off  our  own  English  create  (as  a  past  participle)  and  the 
Latin  creata  ;  the  root  of  all  which  is  said  to  be  kar  to  make  ;  but 
that  sense  does  not  embrace  the  appearing,  surging-up,  ideas. 

The  Oldlrish  ere  clay  does  not  seem  to  stand  in  the  way  here,  but  rather  to 
help  me  out  Mr.  E.  R.  Wharton  alleges  cretus,  the  participle  of  cemo  I 
separate ;  but  must  we  not  see  in  this  cretus  and  in  cretus  from  cresco  the 
identically  same  word  ? 

Crete  is  thus  the  uprisen  island,  and  the  name  of  the  island-god 
Crete-born  "Zeus,"  Zai/  KpTjrayipTf^,  takes  a  new  and  supreme 
significance.  More  than  2,000  years  ago  Herodotus  (iii,  122) 
remarked  that  the  Cretan  Law-giver  Min6s  of  Kn6ssos  (where 
we  must  see  gn6sis  and  knowledge)  was  anterior  to  the  generations 
of  men.  This  fully  accords  with  Hesiod's  saying  that  the  King  of 
Crete  (Minds)  was  "  the  mightiest  king  of  all  mortals,'*  and  ruled 
with  the  sceptre  of  Zeus.  The  facts  that  his  consort  was  PasiPha^ 
(=  to-all-shine,  the  heavens),  and  that  she  was  the  daughter  of 
Helios  (not  the  sun  ?)  and  Pers^is,  also  place  him  in  a  very  high 
divine  position, 

Askl^piadds  gave  Min6s  for  consort  Kr6t6  the  daughter  of  Asterios,  which 
is  also  Cosmic  and  therefore  genuine.*    Kr^t^  was  otherwise  the  daughter  of 

»  Bid/,  i.  9,  26,  5.  «  Apoll.  Bi6/,  iii.  i,  2,  6. 


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MythsJ]  The  Loadstone  Mountain.  139 

Deukalidn.^  Note  too  that  a  place  in  Rhodes  was  called  Kr^tSnia  after  her.' 
This  gives  us  a  connection  between  two  of  the  Cosmic  typical  island-symbols  of 
the  Earth,  Kr6t^  and  Rodos  (see  "  The  Romaunt  of  the  Rose  "  later  on). 

The  mythic  Dorians  (that  is,  as  I  theorise,  the  spear- axis  gods) 
possessed  the  island  of  Crete  (the  Earth)  in  times  later  than  those 
of  Min6s  (Herod,  i,  173).  If  TaSaMai/^u?  (-^09  or  -Ba)  his  brother 
could  be  made  into  ToSaMai/^i;?,  we  should  have  the  Wheel-Seer 
or  magician  (from  fiavOavto^  fidvri^),  and  a  connection  with  the 
wheel-island  of  Rhodes.  It  is  thus  quite  natural  to  learn  that 
the  equally  mythic  LukoUrgos  long  dwelt  in  Crete,  and  adopted 
its  Law.*  Manthos  then  too  becomes  a  parallel  to  the  fraternal 
Kn6ssos.  Plato*  tells  us  that  the  laws  of  Crete,  being  inspired  by 
Deity,  could  not  be  discussed  by  the  immature.  The  fact  that  the 
ten  chief  magistrates  were  called  kosmoi  and  their  president 
the  protokosmos  is  important,  though  we  need  not  to  lay  too  much 
stress  on  it  The  kosmoi  all  belonged  to  one  family  the  Aithal^i, 
which  name  seems  to  indicate  a  fire^god's  priesthood.  Aithalid^s, 
the  famous  son  of  Hermfis  and  Eupolemeia  was  the  swift  (flame  ? 
flash  ?)  herald  of  the  Argona^ts*  who  transmigrated  into  Pytha- 
goras. 

[Are  not  the  isle  of  Aithalj^  in  the  Argona^itika  (iv,  654), 
which  seems  to  have  escaped  the  scholiasts  and  commentators,  and 
the  puzzling  passage  about  it,  to  be  referred  to  Crete  ?] 

But  we  must  push  on  farther,  and  hope  to  fare  no  worse. 
Kp^?,  Kprjaa-a,  Cretan  and  Cretaness,  contain  the  first  syllable 
of  crescere ;  so  does  the  adjective  Kprjaio^;,  which  was  applied  to 
the  Bacchus  of  Argos.  Kprf^  the  son  of  Z^n  reigned  in  Crete, 
and  according  to  one  legend  gave  his  name  to  the  island, 
which  is  not  too  very^far  off  my  etymology,  which  would  lend 
somewhat  of  a  new  intensity  to  the  epithet  of  Jupiter  Crescens. 
There  was  a  nymph  Krfisdis.  Pasiphad,  sister  of  Kirk6  (the 
spindle),  spouse  of  Min6s,  and  mother  of  AndroGeds  (Man- 
Earth  ?),  was  called  Cressa  bos.®  And  may  not  this  etymology, 
too,  unveil  for  us  the  true  hidden  meaning  of  the  inexhaustible 
riches  of  Croesus,  Kroisos,  the  Universe-King  ?  And  we  must  take 
into  this  family  of  words  Kpeovca,  the  spouse  of  I6s6n,  and  her 
father  Kp^tov,  King  of  K6piv0o9,  And  can  creta  chalk,  the  Cretan 
earth,  have  thus  ever  been  the  protoplast  of  the  speculations  of 

'  ApolL  Bi6L  iii,  3,  i.  '  /did.  iii,  2,  I.  «  Plutarch,  Lycnrg,  4. 

.    y  Leges  I.  D.  270,  31.  ♦  ArgonantikSn,  i,  54,  641,  649  ;  iii,  174. 

•  Propertius  iv,  7,  57. 


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I40  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

"  the  ancients  ? "     Marl  (marga,  margila)  was  also  so  called.     The 
use  of  creta  in  medicine  had  most  probably  a  ritualistic  origin. 

There  are  passages  in  the  Argonaufika  (iv,  1577)  which  I  read 
as  a  possible  relict  of  the  Earthimyth  of  Crete  :  "  Yonder  sea,  that 
has  naught  but  air  around  {inrrjepLov)  reaches  above  Crete  to  the 
divine  land  of  Pelops."^  The  realm  of  Pelops,  as  is  oftqn  pointed 
out  here,  is  the  heavens  ;  and  the  "  sea "  here  is  the  Universe- 
ocean.  Ag^in  (iv,  1636)  :  **  Crete  stands  out  above  all  other  isles 
upon  the  sea."  Again  :  **  As  they  were  hasting  o'er  the  wide  gulf 
of  Crete  "  [the  Universe-ocean,  as  above]  "  night  scared  them,  that 
night  men  call  the  shroud  of  gloom  ...  It  was  black  chaos 
come  from  heaven,  or  haply  thick  gloom  rising  from  the  nethermost 
abyss."*     This  is  the  night-voyage  of  the  darkest  sky. 


[ISLAND,  It  ought  to  have  been  stated  under  the  heading  of  "The  Spear" 
that  Irish  myth  affords  a  parallel  to  Japan's  change  of  position  (p.  32).  The 
one-eyed  or  evil-eyed  Northern  giant-power  Balar  commands  his  Fomorian 
giants  to  "  put  cables  round  the  island  of  Erin,  which  gives  us  so  much  trouble, 
and  tie  it  at  the  stem  of  your  ships  ;  then  sail  home,  bringing  the  island  with 
you,  and  place  it  on  the  North  side  of  Lochlann."»  The  island  of  Fianchaire 
(Fincara  =  white-rock  ?),  too,  lies  not  on  the  surface,  but  down  deep  in  the 
waters,  for  it  was  sunk  beneath  the  waves  by  a  spell  in  times  long  past 

I  should  also  have  stated  at  p.  33  that  in  the  voyage  of  Mailduin — which 
is  in  the  nature  of  a  Cosmic  Argo  voyage,  as  all  the  imrama  seem  to  be — the 
island  of  Birds  which  are  human  souls  is  met  with  ;  and  the  Aged  Man  of  the 
island  is  covered  all  over  with  long  white  hair,  and  his  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  island  is  that  he  brought  from  Erin  as  ballast  for  his  boat  some 
sods  of  green  turf,  and  then, "  under  the  guidance  of  God  I  arrived  at  this  spot ; 
and  he  fixed  the  sods  in  the  sea  for  me,  so  that  they  formed  a  little  island,** 
which  grew  bigger  and  bigger  every  year,  and  in  which  the  Lord  caused  a 
single  tree  to  spring  up."*    This  is  a  parallel  to  the  island  KallistS  (p.  33). 

"  Then  we  came  to  the  isle  Aiolian  where  dwelt  Aiolos  son  of  HippoTas  in 
a  floating  island.  And  all  about  it  is  a  wall  of  bronze  unbroken,  and  the  cliff 
runs  up  sheer  from  the  sea.  His  12  children  too  abide  there  in  his  mansions,  6 
daughters  and  6  lusty  sons  ;  and  behold  he  gave  his  daughters  to  his  sons  to 
wife."  {Odyss.  x,  i.)  This  is  clearly  Cosmic  ;  the  floating  airy  island  being  the 
Earth,  and  the  rest  being  of  the  firmament,  celestial  or  zodiacal 

The  island  of  Cephalonia  in  the  myth  of  Kephalos  and  Prokris  also 
deserves  attention  here. 

The  island  P'ung-Lai,  ^  ^  was  brought  one  day,  in  all  its  mass,  by  the 

*  K€ivo  tf  vmiipuiv  Otiffv  HtXomjtda  ycuav  \  eWavix'^t  n{Kayos  ILprjfrqs  vntp. 
'  iv,  1694.     Mr.  Coleridge's  version. 

•  Dr.  Joyce's  Celiic  Romances ^  41,  87.     A  deceased  Sir  Andrew  Agncw  thus  appears 
to  have  been  a  plagiarist.  ^  Ibui.  144. 


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Myths?\  The  Loadstone  Mountain,  141 

Ngao  S  or  Cosmic  Tortoise  of  Chinese  myth.*  As  the  Earth  is  also  supported 
by  the  Tortoise,  we  here  have  in  P*ung-Lai,  I  fancy,  a  clear  figure  for  the  Earth 
just  as  in  so  many  islands  of  Greek  mythology.] 


[Rocking'Stones.     It  has  occurred  to  me  to  try  and  explain  the 

puzzling  Rocking-Stones  as  another  archaic  conception  of  the  idea 

of  ''animated  stones;"   the  vibration  of  the  gigantic  mass,  which 

still  astonishes  ourselves,  being  employed  to  awe  the  other  masses 

into  adoration.     I  cannot  find  any  record   of   the   "lie"   of  such 

stones,  as  regards  the  points  of  the  compass.*     A  Buddhist  legend, 

which  is  a  household  word  in  Japan,  chimes-in  with  this  theory. 

The  monk  Daita,  ascending  a  hill,  and  collecting  stones,  placed 

them  upon  the  ground  around  him,  and  began  to  preach  to  them 

of  the  secret  precepts  of  Buddha ;    and  so  miraculous  was  the 

effect  of  the  mysterious  truths  he  told,  that  even  the  stones  bowed 

in  reverent  assent.     Thereupon  the  saint  consecrated  them  as  the 

Nodding-S tones.'    To  this  day,  Japanese  gardens  consisting  almost 

entirely   of  stones — our  own  rockeries   suggest    themselves — are 

arranged   in    a   small    enclosure   to   represent   this  legend,  which 

resembles  that  of  the  Venerable  Bede,  p.  125.] 

•  De  Groot,  Fites  cPEmoui,  i,  174. 

•  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  I  find  that  Dr.  T.  A.  Wise  says  in  his  History  of 
Paganism  in  Caledonia  (1884,  p.  92),  apparently  from  his  own  personal  observation — 
which  is  my  reason  for  quoting  the  book — that  the  3-ton  5  ft.  6  x  4  ft.  8  rocking-stone  at 
Strathardle,  Perthshire,  moves  only  when  pushed  in  the  direction  of  N.  and  S.  When 
it  has  been  worked -up  to  its  fiill  swing,  the  end  of  the  stone  vibrates  through  some 
4  inches,  and  it  then  makes  (say)  27  balancings  before  it  returns  to  rest. 

•  Chamberlain's  Things  Japanese^  131. 


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142  Tfie  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 


II. — MdyvrjSj  Medea,  and  Maia — Touchstone. 

ASHORX  time  may  not  here  be  thrown  away  in  a  hunt  after 
myth  and  etymon. 

Mdrfvri^  was  a  "servant"  of  Mi^BecOy  changed  by  that  goddess 
and  sorceress  into  a  stone,  the  magnet  He  it  is  who  in  this  myth 
divinely  *'  animates  "  this  stone.  Another  myth  given  by  Nicander 
makes  him  walk  in  shepherding  upon  natural-magnetic  rocks,  to 
which  he  became  fixed  by  the  nails  in  his  shoes^ ;  where  we 
obviously  have  a  variant  not  alone  of  Sindbad's  loadstone  cliff- 
mountain  but  of  the  shoes  of  IphiKratos  (see  "  The  Myth  of  Daphne" 
infra)  and  the  brazen  feet  of  Tal6s,  and  perhaps  of  the  footprint 
legends  generally.  The  black  precious-stone  called  Medea  nigra 
which  Pliny  (xxxvi,  lo,  6^)  said  was  not  otherwise  known  than  by  its 
name,  must  thus  have  been  the  loadstone,  and  also  perhaps  the 
first  black  image  of  a  great  goddess  now  traceable  in  the  Universe. 

I  suggest  that  Ui4pos^  the  son  of  Magn6s  must  mean  stone  (French  pierre), 
and  that  thus  Pieria  the  seat  of  the  Muses*  was  equivalent  to  Petraia,  stony— of 
course  in  a  celestial  god-stone  sense ;  and  further  that  the  nine  daughters  of 
Pieros  were  simply  a  doublet  of  the  Muses.  Pieros  was  also  father  of  Hya- 
kinthos  (also  a  precious-stone)  by  Klei6  (our  Clio),  whom  I  should  call  one  of 
the  /keystone  goddesses. 

The  identity  of  the  names  Athamas  and  Adamas  must  be  strongly  suspected. 
The  name  of  his  Black  son  Melanion,  the  spouse  of  Atalanta  ;*  his  children  by 
In6  being  dressed  black,  and  those  by  Themist6  in  white,  or  vice  versd;  and  his 

*  Pliny  xxxvi,  i6,  citing  Nicander.  Isidonis  {Originuniy  xvi,  4)  also  followed 
Micaader,  but  put  the  myth  in  India.  Vincent  de  Beauvais  reproduced  it  {Specuium 
NaturaU^  ii,  9,  19)  saying  clavis  crepidarum,  baculiqm  cuspidi  haerens.  This  is  also 
in  J.  B.  della  Porta's  Magia  NcUuralis^  1651,  p.  288.  Here  we  have  the  staff  or /«/, 
as  well  as  the  shoes.  Dioscorides,  the  first-century  Greek  botanist,  said  that  the  plant 
which  is  called  in  Latin  Lunaria  major^  drew  the  shoes  off  the  feet  of  any  horse  that 
trod  thereon  (de  Vallemont's  Physique  occuUe^  1696,  p.  3). 

«  ApolL  BihL  i,  3,  3.  »  Hesiod,  Theog,  v,  53:  "  iv  Uuplu  Kpopldjf," 

*  Ovid,  Ars  atner,  ii,  185.  In  Apollodoros  (BibL  iii,  9,  2)  he  is  Meilanidn,  and  the 
son  of  Amphi-damas,  where  either  damas  is  adamas  or  gives  us  a  clue  to  adamas.  Are 
damas  and  adamas  the  two  poles  of  the  magnet,  and  does  amphi-damas  mean  the  whole 
magnet  ?  Amphi Damas  is  brother  to  lasos,  and  son  of  LukoUrgos.  Ao/uar  was  said 
by  Pliny  (xxxiv,  8,  19)  to  have  been  a  (mythic  ?)  sculptor  of  KXc/rcap  in  Arcadia,  which  I 
would  make  the  polar  AVfstone  of  the  heavens-vault.  The  name  LaoDamas,  of  the 
king  of  Thebes,  seems  absolutely  to  be  composed  of  the  words  Xo^r,  stone,  and 
^ioftas.  There  is  also  the  name  AlkiDamas  (oXic^,  strength),  and  doubtless  many  others 
(besides  IphiDamas,  Jt^t  almighty)  wh^ch  do  not  come  to  the  memory  at  the  moment. 


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MythsJ]  Mayvri^,  Medea,  and  Maia,  143 

important  central  position  as  King  of  Thessaly  in  the  myths  that  concern  him 
must  be  worked  out  some  other  time.  Adamas,  again,  was  said  by  F.  Lenor- 
mant  to  be  identical  with  AdMetus/  and  the  name  was  at  times  given  to 
Plout6n.  He  also  said  that  the  'A5d/i  of  the  Philosophumena  was  an  abbreviation 
of  Adamas  or  Adamastos,  an  epithet  of  Had^s  ;  and  that  this  Adam  of  Samo- 
thrace  equalled  the  Attis  or  Pappas  {j.e.  Father)  of  Phrygia.  This  line,  if  fought 
out,  would  give  us  a  stone-man  in  Adam's  creation  as  well  as  in  Deukali6n*s. 
Elsewhere  Magnus  is  a  son  of  Aiolos  the  nimble  winds-god  :  that 
is,  magnetic  stones  fall  from  the  air,  are  aerolites.  Again  he  is, 
because  these  stones  drop  from  the  heavens,  a  son  of  Argos  the 
shining  heavens  (see  Index).  Clemens  Alexandrinus,*  quoting 
Didymus  the  grammarian,  made  Magnus  the  father  of  Apollo. 

There  is  a  fragment  of  Xanthos,  the  Lydian  and  writer  of 
Lydian  history  about  496  B.C.,  which  has  its  value  because  the 
legends  must  have  been  local,  and  to  which  I  must  refer  without 
reproduction.*  It  may  be  interpreted,  perhaps,  that  Gyg6s  Vvyr\<i 
King  of  the  Lydians  had  Magnus  for  his  familiar,  that  is  was  aided 
by  or  wielded  the  magnet's  mysterious  power.     See  also  p.  146. 

Pvyiyy  can  of  course  be  looked  upon  as  no  more  than  Tiyay,  giant ;  but 
Gyg^s  had  the  famous  magic  ring  which  rendered  invisible,  and  as  one  of  the  three 
primeval  fifty-headed  and  hundred-handed  sons  of  Ouranos  and  G^,  he  is  called 
by  Apollodoros  (Bibl.  i,  i)  Vvr\i  (Briareos,  Guds  and  Kottos).  This  suggests 
ycJiyr,  enchanter  ;  but  Clitodemus  (Kleidfimos),  in  naming  this  triad  the  Trito- 
Patores,^  calls  him  Pvyi/f. 

That  Medea  was  of  the  first  rank  among  celestial  powers  is 
clearly  shown  by  her  pairing  with  Ar^s  ;  and  her  connection  with 
lasdn,  7V//seus,  and  Thi\^%  place  her  among  the  Bkoi  (all 
which  see).  She  was  the  mother  by  lasdn  of  M^So9  ;  and  it  seems 
to  be  possible  to  theorise  that  both  names,  give  us  a  central,  middle, 
Universe  god  and  goddess— just  the  same  idea  that  we  have  in  the 
Norse  name  Midgardr  for  the  abode  of  such  gods,  and  in  the  Mith- 
Odinus  (Mid-Odinn  Y)  of  Saxo  Grammaticus.  And  now,  having 
been  given  this  ell,  let  me  take  another  inch,  and  say  boldly 
that  MeDus  (the  central-god,  the  son  of  MeDea,  who  gave  his  name 
to  the  Medes,that  is,  like  the  Chinese,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Middle 
(Kingdom)  and  Magnus,  the  Great-One,  the  servant  of  Medea,  are 

But  it  would  seem  that  we  must  pair  such  names  as  LaoDamas  and  LaoDameia, 
AstuDamas  and  AstuDameia.  It  is  impossible  now  to  turn  aside  to  Damia  as  a  name  of 
Bona  Dea,  damium  her  victim  and  damiatrix  her  priestess,  all  which  E.  Saglio  {Dut.  i, 
725)  seeks  to  connect  with  D8M6tlr. 

*  Saglio,  Diet,  des  Aniiq,  i,  687,  763.  '  Exh9rt.  (0  HelUrus^  ch.  2. 

*  No.  19,  p.  40  of  Frag,  Hist,  Grac,  Didot,  1874,  vol.  i. 

*  Frag,  19,  p.  340,  ut  sup. 


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M4  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

identical.  Does  not  this  throw  quite  a  new  light  upon  Ovid's 
•*  Medio  tutissimus  ibis,"  and  upon  the  god  MeDius  Fidius  (which 
see)  who  is  perhaps  also  to  be  identified  with  Medus  ? 

MeDientius  (alias  Mezentius)  rex,  that  is  ruler-god,  of  Etrurian  Caere 
(?  caele  =  caelum),  helped  the  turning-heavens  god  Tumus  (brother  of  lu- 
Tuma)  rex  of  the  Rutu\\  (?  w/teel-godsy  or  red  fire-gods)  at  Ardea,  the  central 
fire.  All  the  dramatis  personae  are  here  central  or  rotators.  MeDientius  also 
fought  Latinus,  q.  v. ;  and  his  name  seems  to  be  merely  an  adjectival  form  of 
MeDius.     Miiller  said  Mezentius  was  perhaps  an  Osk  word.* 

McdtiDv  is  the  icTJpv$  or  herald  of  Ithaca  in  the  Odyssey  (iv,  677  and  passim). 
If  his  name  has  the  central  meaning  I  would  give  it,  it  is  a  strengthening  of  the 
central  meaning  I  have  suggested  at  p.  55  for  Mercurius.  (See  other  gods  in 
Med6n  lower  down.) 

Medea  cured  Herakles  of  madness  by  secrets  learned  from  her 
mother  Hecate ;  but  others  of  her  myths  also  show  her  to  have 
become  a  fallen  deity.  The  number  of  the  Phaiakian  handmaids 
given  to  Medea  by  Ar^t^  queen  of  Kerkura  (Corcyra),  which  was 
the  zodiacal  twelve,  is  another  note  of  a  supreme  (central) 
heavens-goddess.  They  are  called  ^\*/te9,  "  of  the  same  age,"  in 
the  Argonautika  (iii,  840)  ;  but  ^Xckc^,  as  rotators,  like  'TSXiKTf  the 
great  Bear,  would  suit  them  perhaps  better. 

2(/>t-Mcd€ca  is  clearly  another  form  of  the  goddess's  name,  for  l<ln,  as  a  prefix  to  - 
proper  names  can  only  be  regarded  as  expressive  of  divine  power,  and  thus  equals 
almighty.    In  *E<f>i-AXTi]Sj  son  of  IphiMedeia,  the  first  part  of  the  word  is  probably 
I(f>i  and  not  cVl ;  and  the  word  then  would  mean  "  the  Most  High  Almighty." 

AndroMeda.  In  pursuance  of  one  of  the  general  rules  kept  in  view  in  this 
Inquiry^  we  must  also  include  here  this  Mcda,  who  was  the  spouse  of  Perseus, 
and  was  chained  to  the  heavens-rock.  PeriM6d6,  daughter  of  Aiolos,  falls  in 
here  too,  I  suppose. 

McAovo-a,  M« Aoura  or  MeDusa  must  also  be  understood  as  a  central 
goddess.  MeDusa  is  one  of  a  sacred  triad.  Poseid6n  becomes  a  bird  to 
mate  with  her.  Her  hair  becomes  serpents,  which  is  like  the  serpent  head- 
dresses of  Egyptian  deities.  The  glance  of  her  evil  eye  turned  to  stone  near 
the  Tritonian  lake  all  whom  it  reached.  Perseus  in  his  attack  on  her  uses 
the  shield  or  the  mirror  of  Atli^n^  (and  of  the  Japanese  goddess  AmaTerasu) 
and  the  casque  or  cap-of-invisibility  of  Ploutdn.  With  her  severed  head 
Perseus  changes  AtLas  into  a  mountain.  She  is  the  mother  of  P^jasos,  the 
central  winged  horse-god.  P6g^  being  a  fountain,  he  is  also  the  hippopotamus 
par  excellence,  the  horse,  that  is,  of  the  central  heavens-spring.  Perseus  was 
also  called  YMx\xMeddn,  With  MeDousa  must  go  the  name  M^tiaDousa 
(wife  of  Kekrops)  which  again  by  its  first  half  hangs  on  to  M^ti6n  her  father's 
name.    Also  AutoMeDousa  wife  of  IphiKlos,  and  AstuMeDousa'  wife  of  Oidi- 

'  Etruskerx,  115,  368. 

'  "AoTv  ( —  city)  is  in  a  great  variety  of  names,  and  may  perhaps  be  classed  with  orvXoy 
pillar  (slanding-stone),  OTwroff  stock,  stem  (standing-foot  ;   the   French  st»ll  has  un  pied 


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Afyths.'\  Mayi/T^s,  Medea^  and  Maia.  »45 

pous,  and  HippoMeDousa  and  IphiMeDousa,  daughters  of  Danaos.  And  Pala- 
Mddds  and  AgaM^d^s  must  also  be  mentioned  here ;  being  more  fully  dealt 
with  under  "  Divine  Names  in  pal-'^  Nor  should  DioM6D€s  be  forgotten. 
AutoMeddn,  LaoMed6n,  and  IphiMedon^  also  require  noting.  See  also 
Meddixtuticus  and  Meditullius  under  the  heading  of  "  The  Navel "  ;  and  Mezen- 
tius  (more  anciently  MeDientius)  who  helped  Tumus  the  turning-heavens  god, 
must  of  course  be  added.  (All  the  divine  words  in  Me-  badly  want  systcma- 
tising,  but  there  is  no  time  just  now^) 

Ath^nd  was  titled 

Magnisia.  Magnus,  with  or  without  lapis,  meant  a  magnet ;  and 
doubtless  named  the  land  of  Magnesia  and  Ath^n6  too,  instead  of 
Magnesia  naming  the  stone,  as  continues  to  be  repeated  by  **  the 
authorities."  Klaproth*  said  that  the  loadstone  was  vulgarly  called 
fiSyvrfi; ;  but  if  that  be  so,  all  I  can  say  is,  vox  populi  vox  dei ;  a 
qualification  which  applies  to  a  vast  quantity  of  other  folklore. 
Nothing  can  well  be  more  mythic  than  the  geography  and  position 
of  the  ancient  terrestrial  Magnesia.  Strabo  (ix,  429)  seems  to  put 
it  in  South-East  Thessaly,  where  were  also  Mounts  Pelion  and 
Ossa ;  Homer  gave  no  precise  information.  Its  inhabitants  were 
vaguely  the  Magnetes  ,•*  and  the  sole  town  that  Magnus  himself  is 
fabled  to  have  founded  he  called  Meliboia  after  his  consort.' 
There  seems  to  be  very  little  danger  in  opining  that  this  last  name 
discloses  a  Bee-goddess  of  the  starry  heavens,  and  her  abode. 
Magn^ia,  in  fact,  remains  in  nubibus  ;  where,  as  I  maintain,  the 
voyage  of  the  Argo  placed  it.  **  In  the  distance,"  wrote  Apollonios^ 
who,  of  course  was  only  re-working  up  old  material,  "  were  seen  the 
Peiresian  headlands  and  the  headland  {aKfyq)  of  Magn^ia,  calm 
and  clear  upon  the  mainland  (vTrevOto^  rt^eipou)  atcr^q)  and  the 
cairn  (rvfipos:)  of  Dolops."*  I  should  here  give  Peiresiai  its  real 
value  of  transpiercing,  or  else  make  it  mean  terminal,  as  irelpap  and 
irripw;  mean  end,  just  as  ovp(yf  and  oipov  mean  boundary,  which 
furnishes  a  notable  enough  coincidence.  AkrS  I  would  render  by 
summit  or  extremity,  and  for  mainland,  I  would  read  **the  immen- 
sity ;"  while  Dolops,  if  interpreted  as  Wily-Eye  or  countenance, 

de  cfleri,  and  so  on),  frroh  pilltir  (stand),  and  orv©  erigo.  Thus  the  orv  in  3-otv  is  the 
Latin  sto  stand  ;  and  the  true  meaning  of  a-stu  thus  is  not-permanent,  not-fixed  ;  which 
exactly  answers  to  the  22-centuries-old  explanation  of  Philochoros  in  our  4th  fragment  of 
him  (Didot*s  /Vof.  Hist,  Grcec,  i,  384)  that  it  was  originally  a  nomadic  encampment. 
This  etymology  is  of  the  nature  of  the  unexpected,  and  perhaps  is  new. 
'  La  Baussoie,  p.  11. 

*  Scylax ;  Skymnos  of  Chios,  v,  605  ;  Diod.  Sic.  xii,  51  ;  xvi,  29. 

*  Eustath.  on  Iliad,  ii,  717,  *  Argonautika^  i,  583. 

*  Mr.  E.  P.  Coleridge's  version,  p.  24. 

K 


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146  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  \Axis 

gives  us  the  wiliness  of  Kronos  and  the  all-seeing  Eye  on  which  I 
have  here  often  to  lay  such  stress.  [Pelops  would  thus  be  the 
Black-visaged  night-heavens?  Although  his  forehead  and  his 
shoulder  are  made  white  in  myth-fragments.]  All  this  is  of  the 
North  Polar  heavens,  and  Magnesia  becomes  the  mythic  loadstone 
mountain  of  all  the  myths  and  legends. 

The  powdered  magnet  was  a  favourite  remedy  in  the  middle  ages,  and  the 
name  of  our  drug  magnesia,  the  oxide  of  magnesium,  has  very  probably  an 
equally  superstitious  sacred  origin,  just  as  the  use  of  creta,  chalk,  in  medicine 
may  have  had  (see  p.  140). 

A  strange  name  for  the  magnet  is  that  in  Hcsychius,  \vhia  or  Avdue^  Xi^or, 
the  Lydian  stone  ;  because  it  came  from  Lydia(see  pp.  130, 143).  Doctors  seem 
to  differ  about  this,  for  Pliny  (xxxiii,  8,  43)  said  that  the  Lydius  lapis  was  a 
name  of  the  touchstone,  because  at  one  time  it  only  came  from  Mount  TfiAXor  or 
Tymolus  (which  I  presume  must  be  regarded  as  the  divided  mountain  ;  or  else 
as  tumulus^  simply).  But  Tm61os  was  son  of  Ar6s,  a  giant,  and  a  king  of  Lydia. 
His  mother  was  TheoG^n^,  godbom.  He  violated  ArriphS  (basket-bearer?),  a 
companion  of  Artemis  at  the  altar  of  the  goddess.  Tmdlos  was  tossed  by 
a  mad  bull  on  to  stakes  on  which  he  was  im/^z/ed,  and  he  was  buried  in  the 
mountain  that  bears  his  name.  The  Paktdlos  (peaceful  Y)  flowed  down  this 
mountain,  and  it  was  also  called  Lydius  aurifer  amnis  (which  does  not  sound 
peaceful).  Omphald  was  called  Lydia  nurus  and  puella,  being  the  queen  of  the 
place,'  having  been  left  it  by  King  Tm61os  who  was  her  husband.  Another 
name  of  Lydia  was  Maionia.  Here  we  have  doubtless  mythic  celestial  supreme 
regions.  The  magnet  was  also  called  Xi^or  'H/KutXcux  after  H6rakl6s,«  or 
else  after  the  town  of  Herakleia,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sipulos  in  Lydia  (see  p. 
130,  and  what  is  said  later  about  this  under  "  The  Arcana  **).  Now  Tm61os  was 
said  by  Eustathius  to  be  son  of  Sipulos  and  Eptonia  (?  a  corruption,  and  from 
iwra  seven).  Sipulos  was  the  first  of  the  seven  sons  of  Niobd,  and  Tantalos 
was  another  (she  was  also  daughter  of  Tantalos).  Niob6  was  also  called  the 
stone  of  Sipulos,  because  she  was  there  at  her  own  prayer  changed  to  stone  by 
Zeus.* 

Magnolia  meant  "  wonders "  in  ecclesiastical  Latin  (Tertull : 
ad  Uxor,  ii,  7),  and  was  also  used  for  grand  actions,  great  things. 
This  again  brings  us  to  Ma709,  magus  and  maga,  a  magician  ; 
magus,  magical,  enchanting;  and  the  Persian  magi  (Greek  /^u^toO* 
regarding  which  word  Professor  Skeat  says :  "  the  original  sense 
was  probably  great,  from  the  Zend  maz,  great  (Pick  i,  168) 
cognate  with  Greek  lUyas,  Latin  magnus,  great  Root,  magh,  to 
have  power."  Thus  magic  \s  simply  and  initially  the  exercise  of 
the  mag  or  power  of  the  great  central  deity  ;    and  natural  magic 

Pherecydes^df^.  34 ;  ApolL  BibL  ii,  6,  3. 
«  Pliny  has  Heracleus  lapis,  xxxiii,  8,  43  ;  xxxvi,  16,  2$. 
•  ApoU.  BibL  iii,  5,  6,  6. 


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Myths?^  Mayi/iys,  Medea,  and  Maia.  i47 

and  natural  magxitXSsxti  are  thus  brought  together  in  the  Night  of 
the  Gods. 

Is  not  this  central,  middle,  highest  conception  the  true  key  also 
to  the  origin  and  significance  of  Asura  Medhk  and  its  analogue 
Ahura  Mazdko} 

From  the  same  root  come 

Magisier^  the  supreme,  the  director,  conductor,  ordinator,  watcher,  over- 
sec-r,  chief,  master.  Magister  sacrorum  was  the  high  priest,  the  king  of  the 
sacrifices ;  and  the  "  colleges "  of  the  Augurs,  the  Arvalii,  Salii,  and  Lares 
Augusti  had  each  its  magister. 

Magicae  linguae  means  hieroglyphics  in  Lucan,  ii,  222.  But  we  must  carry 
die  words  in  mag-  a  good  deal  further. 

Magada  was  the  name  of  the  Venus  goddess  in  Lower  Saxony  whose 
temple  was  uprooted  by  Charlemagne  (No€l) ;  the 

Magodes  were  mimes  who,  we  may  make  pretty  sure,  originally  took  parts 
in  religious  mystery-plays,  the  Magodia. 

Magarsis  was  (as  well  as  Magnesia,  already  mentioned)  a  title  of  Atheij^  (?) 
at  Magarsus  of  Cilicia. 

MaySaX^,  the  place-name,  is  glossed  in  the  older  lexicons  {e,g, 
Schrevelius)  as  meaning  in  Hebrew  "  a  tower  "  ;  and  Ma^hoKrivhy 
the  woman's  name  (which  is  of  course  simply  of  "  Magdala  ")  as 
in  Syriac  meaning  "  magnificent " :  there  certainly  is  a  mag-  in 
both.  Magdalum,  yi6/yho!ikov  or  yid^hoKov  may  be  the  Migdol  of 
Jeremiah  xliv,  i  ;  xlvi,  14.  But  the  word  magdalia,  or  magdalides, 
oblong  cylinders,  is  a  strange  one.  It  seems  to  have  been  even  in 
Roman  times  relegated  to  the  pharmacy  (Pliny).  And  it  passed 
into  French  as  magdaMon  (from  fiaySaXid,  which  Littr^  explains 
as  pdte  petrie  simply,  from  /Moaa-a),  efiayov ;  but  this  is  clearly  ofT 
the  spot,  for  how  about  the  **  oblong  cylinder  "  ?).  It  seems  as  if  we 
must  discern  in  all  these  words  the  two  components  mag-  and  -dala. 
How  would  it  be  then,  if  mag-dala  meant  simply  a  greal^  that  is  a 
long, stone ;  then  a  pillar,  and  then  a  tower?  One  naturally  thinks 
of  the  French  dalle,  but  Littr6  again  fails  us  at  the  pinch,  saying 
"  origine  inconnue ; "  but  giving  us  the  extra  forms  dail  daille. 
Now  it  seems  to  me  that  we  may  have  the  clue  we  want  (under  the 
heading  of  "  The  Round  Towers  ")  in  the  Irish  diminutive  dal/dn, 
the  name  for  the  pillar-stones  of  Munster.  If  this  be  indeed  so, 
it  clears  up  somewhat,  and  serves  the  theories  here  advocated.  I 
can  only  submit  it  to  the  judgement  of  philologists.  DaiDalos  (see 
p.  134)  would  seem  to  fall  into  the  same  category.     Tl^ere  was 

>  Darmesteter's  Zeml  Av,  i,  Iviii  (dting  Benfey). 

K   2 


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148  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

Magdala  in  Gaulonitis  (Peraea)  near  the  lake  of  Gennesaret, 
Magdala  in  Languedoc ;  and  I  may  not  omit  Ma7&»\oj/  or 
Marfhokov  in  Egypt,  which  is  perhaps  the  Migdol  of  Jeremiah, 

Magtnenium  (said  to  be  for  magY'mentum)  was  a  sacrificial  offering  (said, 
indeed,  to  be  a  supplemental  offering,  but  that  does  not  satisfy).  Varro  said  it 
came  from  magis  because  "ad  religionem  magis  pertinet"  (Z.  L,  v,  §  112), 
which,  old  as  Varro  though  it  be,  sends  us  empty  away. 

Magusanus  (?  Mag/fusanus)  is  the  name  of  a  god  in  an  inscription  found  in 
Zealand.  Olaus  Rudbeck  rendered  it  Valens,  god  of  strength*  The  god  holds 
a  great  fork  (which  rests  on  the  earth)  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  a  dolphin. 
This  resembles  a  Poseiddn.  A  large  veil  (which  reminds  of  Kronos)  covers 
the  head  and  reaches  to  the  shoulders.  "  The  name  Magusanus  is  also  found 
on  the  coins  of  Posthumus  "  (Noel). 

The  reader  may  think  that  we  have  taken  a  long  time  in  getting 
to  Magnus  itself;  but  there  were  reasons  of  convenience  for  the 
course. 

Magnus.  Major  being  the  comparative  of  magnus  gives  us  a 
still  surviving  link  of  magnus  to  its  other  form  majus,  great,  and 
enables  us  to  join  the  magnet  class  of  words  to  another,  the  Ma2a 
class ;  and  this  is  of  the  very  highest  moment  as  to  the  contentions 
here  urged.  For  Ma^yi/iyy  is  thus  obviously  nothing  but  the  personal- 
name  form  of  the  adjective  magnus  g^eat,  and  thus  magnet  reveals 
itself  as  /A^- Great-Stone,  Karkl^o^v. 

MajtiSy  an  old  word  for  magnus,  great,  is  found  in  Deus  Majus, 
that  is  Jupiter  ;^  and  Dea  Maia  was  usual.  Let  us  next  take  MaZd, 
Majja,  Maja,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Atlas  and  the  mother  (by 
Zeus)  of  Hermes,  which  at  once  puts  her,  where  she  is  wanted  for 
the  present  purposes,  with  the  Axis-gods.  And  this  is  confirmed 
by  the  passage  in  the  ^netd  (viii,  139) :  Mercurius  quem  Candida 
Maia  Cyllenae  gelido  conceptum  vertice  fudit,  for  Candida  here 
belongs  (like  the  endless  similar  terms  throughout  this  Inquity)  to 
the  white  heavens-deities,  and  the  gelidus  vertex  of  Cyllena 
(JLvWrivri)  is  the  Northern  icy  summit  of  the  hollow  heavens- 
mountain  (/cotXo9,  caelum,  /cuXtf  ;  but  caelo=:to  ornament,  to  chase). 

Maja  genitum  demittit  ab  alto,  sent  down  her  son  from  on  high 
(/Eneid  i,  297)  ;  and  thence  was  Mercury  called  Majades  and 
Majugena  (Maja  and  gigno).      She  was   also  sanctissima   Maja 

^  Sunt  qui  hunc  mensem  (Malum)  ad  nostros  fastos  \  Tusculanis  transisse  com- 
memorenty  apud  quos  nunc  quoque  vocatur  deus  Maius,  qui  est  Jupiter,  ^  magoitudine 
scilicet  ac  fkiajestate  dictus  (Macrobius,  Satumal,  i,  12).  Tacitus  constantly  uses  majus 
(as  the  neuter  of  maior)  as,  "  cuncta  in  majus  attollens  "  {Ann,  xv,  30.  See  also  Ann. 
xiii,  8 ;  Hist,  iii,  8  ;  i,  18 ;  iv,  50). 


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Mytks.l  Mayinj9,  Medea,  and  Maia,  149 

(Cicero,  Arat,  270 — where  she  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  Pleiades). 
Maia  also  brought  up  'Ap/ca?,  regarding  whom  the  reader  is 
especially  requested  to  refer  to  the  Index.  Cybel^  was  with 
propriety  called  Maja,  and  so  was  Tellus.  Macrobius  {Saturn,  i, 
12)  even  said  that  some  considered  her  to  be  Medea:  quidam 
Medeam  putant,  which  is  giving  a  certain  age  to  this  new  theory 
of  mine.  [Of  course  the  connection  with  the  Indian  Maya  and 
with  the  Sanskrit  maha,  great,  is  unavoidable,  but  would  take  us 
too  far ;  but  see  what  is  said  in  this  Inquiry  about  the  Indian 
Manus  and  the  Irish  Maini,']  Maia  was  also  paired  with  Vulcan, 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  gods  ;  and  Vulcan's  flamen,  as  Macrobius 
has  preserved  for  us,  sacrificed  to  her  on  the  first  day  of  May  ;  and 
the  Majuma  was  the  great  popular  water-festival  in  May  upon  the 
Tiber.  The  divine  name  AlkMai6n  {oKkti  strength),  of  the  son  of 
AmphiAraQs,  n)ust  fall  into  this  great  category,  and  mean  great- 
almighty  ? 

MqfuSj  the  name  of  the  month  of  May,  came,  said  Ovid,  from 
the  name  of  the  goddess  Maja  ;  and  so  also  said  Ausonius.  May, 
our  English  month  (and  may,  our  English  verb,  too)  thus  springs 
from  the  root,  ma^  or  ntagh  or  mak,  to  be  powerful,  And  that  too 
of  course  gave 

Majus  in  low-Latin,  which  was  a  tree,  that  is  *^  a  may,"  cut  and 
planted  as  a  sign  of  honour  and  worship.  Majanus  hortus  is  found 
in  Pliny,  xxv,  8,  33  ;  and  in  an  inscription  {apud  Grut.  589 :  3  and 
602 :  3).  So  that  this  low-Latin  sense  of  majus  was  doubtless 
also  very  high  Latin  indeed. 

And  so,  as  it  is  humbly  submitted  to  more  competent  judgements, 
have  we  come  by  one  linked  chain  from  the  magnet  to  the  maypole, 
without  ever  once  quitting  the  central  sacrosanct  region  round  which 
the  Universe  revolves. 


MELUSINE.  The  name  Melusine  deserves  some  attention  here.  Littrd 
brings  it  from  the  bas-Breton  melus,  melodious,  Gallic  melusiney  songstress. 
She  was  the  b^shee  of  the  Lusignans,  and  ajipeared  and  screamed  when 
misfortunes  were  at  hand,  which  makes  her  a  goddess  of  evil  fortune.  There 
are  many  other  notes  of  a  central  goddess  in  her  myth.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  ^/enas  King  of  Altamdi  (which  may  denote  the  white  heavens).  She  became 
a  serpent  every  seventh  day  to  expiate  the  murder  of  her  father.  Heraldry 
makes  a  sort  of  mermaid  of  her  (half  serpent  half  woman),  with  the  mirror  and 
comby  and  bathing.  She  was  one  of  a  triad  of  sisters,  and  their  mother  Pressina 
took  them  on  to  a  high  mountain-top  whence  she  showed  them  Albania,  wheie 


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ISO  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

they  would  have  reigned  had  not  their  father,  like  a  peeping  Tom,  pryed  upon 
her  (Pressina)*  at  their  bringing-forth.  All  this  has  analogies  in  the  Japanese 
myths  of  Amaterasu.  The  three  weird  sisters  shut-up  their  father  Elenas  in  the 
mountain  of  Brundelois  which  is  marvellously  like  the  word  brontia,  and  ought 
to  be  the  thunder-mountain  of  the  heavens.  It  may  also  indicate  a  parallel 
to  El-gebel,  "  the  mountain."  Melusine  has  eight  sons  who  are  all  wondrous  ; 
the  fifth  had  but  one  eye,  with  which  he  coujd  see  (3  x  7  =)  21  leagues  ; 
the  sixth  was  Geoffroy  with  the  great  tooth  ;  the  eighth  had  three  eyes,  one  of 
which  was  in  the  middle  of  th^  forehead.' 

I  am  sorry  to  say  this  is  oi^e  of  the  countless  myths  of  whiqh  I  have  had  no 
time  to  read  up  the  literature  ;  but  the  likeness  of  many  Me/usine  incidents  to 
those  of  the  great  Medusa  myth  may  be  jotted  down  here.  Medusa  was  pnc  of 
three  sisters,  the  Gorgons  ;  her  hair  became  serpents  ;  a  mirror  given  by 
Ath^n6  to  Perseus  aids  in  slaying  Medusa  ;  the  drops  of  blood  from  the  severed 
head  of  Medusa  also  produce  serpents ;  Apollodoros*  said  that  one  Gorgon 
triad  (the  Graiai  or  Hags)  had  but  one  eye  and  one  tooth  between  the  three, 
each  using  these  properties  by  turns  ;  they  were  also  white-haired.  The  other 
triad  (of  whom  Medusa)  had  scaly  serpents  for  hair,  2^nd  great  boar-tusks  for 
teeth  {ph6vras  hk  firyaXovr  a>£  trvwf). 

The  One  Tooth  i^  I  think  to  be  traced  back  to  Monodusi  (Mwddovr  ?)  son  of 
Prousias  (King  of  Bythinia?)  who  hs^d  but  a  single  bone  in  place  of  teeth  :  quj 
unum  OS  habuit  dentium  loco.  Pyrrhus  King  of  the  Epirotes  had  the  same 
{Festus\  Are  we  not  to  diagnose  a  corresponding  myth  under  the  name  of 
Tuscus,  which  gives  us  an  unregistered  connection  wi|h  tusjc  In  Irish  myth, 
Finn's  tooth  of  knowledge  is  famous,  and  Balar  of  the  Evil  Eye's  queen  is 
Kathleen  (Ceithleann)  of  the  Crooked  Teeth.*  In  the  RigVeda  the  Raltsha^ 
and  Panis  and  fiends  are  atrin^  tusked.  So  are  the  Asuras  in  the  Mcthdbhdratd^ 
The  Rishi  Atri,  the  first  of  the  Bright  Race,  the  Chandra- vaqsa,  was  a  star  i^ 
the  Great  Bear. 


TOUCHSTONE.  The  Old  Man  Battos,  son  of  PoluMn^stoa 
of  the  divine  island  of  Thex^  (Corcyra,  the  Earth),  traced  his  descent 
from  EuPhfimos  the  herald  of  the  Argonauts.  Battos  stapimered 
to  hide  his  designs  •  he  w?is  therefore  wily,  like  Kronos  ;  and  his  real 
name  was  AristoTelfis  (?  best-extreme.  Compare  Arfo).  He 
founded  and  was  adored  at  lLvpr\vr\f  Cyrene. 

Compare  Kv/wy  =  Ceres,  and  Kvp^vri  daughter  of  'Y^rcvr  The  High,  King  of 
the  Lapithai,  that  is  the  heavens-stone  god.  She  was  the  mother  by  Apollo 
of  Aristeios  (father  of  Aktai6n  by  Autonod)  the  first  Bee-master  and  (olive) 
tree-planter,  also  said  to  be  son  of  Ouranos  and  Gaia,  who  established  himself 
on  Mt  Alfios  and  disappeared.    (His  Samson-myth  deserves  study.)     Kurdn^ 

*  Prisni,  the  heavens,  is  in  the  RigVeda  the  mother  of  the  stormgods,  the  Maruts. 

*  Jean  d'Arras.     Couldrette.     Bullet,  Dissert,  sur  la  myth,  franfoise. 
'  Bibl.  ii,  4,  2.     See  also  Pherecyd,  y9^.  26. 

*  Dr.  Joyce's  Celtic  RomanceSy  41,  414^ 

»  Callim.  In  ApolL  65,  etc  ;  Find,  Pyth,  v,  71,  etc. 


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AfyiAs.]  Touchstone.  151 

was  also  the  mother,  by  Apollo,  of  AutcMi^os  and  of  Idm6n  (the  knowing)  an 
Argonaut,  a  diviner  of  Argos,  and  a  Danaid  ;  and  she  also  had  DioM^d^s 
(central-god)  by  Ar^.  [There  are  other  accounts  of  the  parentage  of  Idm6n 
and  DioMM^J 

The  "stammering"  must  really  have  meant  that  Battos  was 
dumb,  for  his  terror  at  a  lion's  attack  made  him  shout  articulately. 
The  idol  of  Battos  was  at  Delphi  on  a  chariot  driven  by  Kur^nfi. 
By  another  legend  Battos  was  turned  by  Hermes  into  a  fidaavo^ 
or  touchstone,  which  clearly  shows  him  to  have  been  a  stone-god 
(?  compare  battuo  beat)  and  a  fit  companion  for  Ma7n;9.  Besides, 
Battos  and  Basanos  (?  from  fialvca)  are  both  connected  ;  and  have 
not  basanos^  and  basileus  a  connection  ?  This  might  give  Og  the 
King  of  Bashan  a  very  important  position  (see  Note  on  his  Bed, 
infra)  ;  and  the  basilii  were  priests  of  SaTumus  who  sacrificed  to 
him  on  the  Mons  Satumius  in  the  month  of  Mars.  Battos  was  one 
of  the  numerous  disclosers  of  the  secrets  of  the  gods — in  this  case 
the  secret  theft  by  Hermes  of  the  flocks  (stars  ?)  of  Apollo.  It  is 
said,  wrote  Clemens  Alexandrinus,*  that  Battos  the  Kurfinian 
composed  what  is  called  the  Divination  of  Mopsos. 

The  Latin  for  basanos  was  Index,*  and  Ovid  changes  Battus 
into  that  stone :  in  durem  silicem  qui  nunc  quoque  dicitur  Index 
{Met.  ii,  706 j.  But  Hercules  was  also  called  Index,  which  must 
have  been  in  his  heavens^pointing  Axis-god  character ;  and 
K.  O.  Muller*  took  Ovid  to  call  the  stone-f^ure  of  Battus  the 
Index  ;  adding  that  a  figure  like  that  of  an  Old  Man  on  a  hill-top 
in  Messinia  was  called  the  Watch-Tower  of  Battus. 


Og's  Bed.  The  "  bedstead  of  iron  "  of  Og  the  King  of  Bashan* 
puzzles  those  who  dread  or  disdain  the  comparative  method.  A. 
Dillman  considers  ^^S^Sl  (^rs)  to  be  sarcophagus  and  not  bed,  and 
*?ria  (brzl)  to  be  ironstone  {i,e,  basalt  or  dolerite).*  M.  J.  Hal6vy 
says  it  cannot  be  sarcophagus  but  must  be  throne  or  portable  bed, 
nor  will  he  admit  basalt,  but  harks  back  to  the  biblical  old  view 
that  it  was  an  actual  iron  bedstead  (out  of  a  shop  }\  or  even  a 
cradle.*    Still  he  points  out  that  the  bed  of  Bel  at  Babylon  in  one 

*  Bekker  {Anecd.  225)  cites  another  form,  /Sao-ay/n/r. 
'  StromcUay  i,  21. 

*  And  indeed  I  may  say  that  its  Index  is  the  touchstone  of  this  Inquiry, 

*  MythoL  Appx.  on  Grotto  of  Herm^  at  Pylus. 

*  Deuter.  iii,  11.  •  Rev.  des  Etudes  Juives,  xxi,  218,  222. 


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152  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

of  the  late  G.  Smith's  texts^  had  exactly  the  same  dimensions  as 
Og's,  9  cubits  by  4. 

I  think  we  must  take  Dillman  to  be  right  about  the  ironstone, 
though  we  may  reject  basalt  or  dolerite,  and  that  we  must  also 
take  these  beds  of  Bel  and  Og  to  be  just  the  same  sort  of  beds  as 
are  so  common  in  Irish  myth  and  present-day  nomenclature. 
Large  stones  such  as  St.  Colomb's  bed  in  Donegal,"  and  the  beds 
of  Diarmait  and  Grainne  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  are  still 
called  by  the  name  bed,  leaba,  leabaidh  (pron.  labba,  labby).  The 
same  term  is  applied  to  a  cromleac  (sloping-stone  ?),  a  word  unused 
by  the  Irish ;  and  the  beds  of  the  Feni  and  of  Qscur  are  still 
shown.  Thus  bed,  leaba,  does  also  mean  grave  or  sepqlchre,  the 
bed  of  the  last  sleep,  and  is  well  exemplified  in  the  questionable 
wish  of  the  unrequited  beggar-woman  :  **  Musha  thin,  the  heaven^ 
be  yer  bed  this  night ! " 

labba,  labby,  le^ba  or  leabaidh,  bed,    Old  Irish  lebaid,  Manx  Ihiabbee, 

Labby,  townland  in  Londondepy. 

Labbyeslin,  tomb  of  EsHn,  Leitrim. 

Labba-Iscur,  Oscur*s  bed  (grave). 

Labasheeda,  Sioda*s  grave,  Clare. 

Labbamolaga,  St.  Molaga's  grave,  church  and  townland  Co.  Cork. 

Labbadermody,  Diarmait's  bed,  a  townland  Co.  Cork. 

Leab,a-Dhiarmada-agus-Grainne,  bed  of  Dermot  and  Grainne  ("  cromlechs  "). 
One  was  built  after  every  day's  flight,  and  legend  has  366  of  them  i^ 
Ireland.    The  idea  here  is  not  that  of  a  grave. 

Leabthacha-na-bhFeinne  (labbaha-i^a-veana)  monuments  of  the  Feni. 

Leaba-caillighe  (labbacallee)  hag's-bed,  sometimes  a  name  for  a  "  cromlech."* 

*  Athettautn^  12  Feb.  1876. 

*  Athenaum  20  Sept.  1890,  p.  393. 

*  Dr.  Joyce,  Irish  Names ^  1st  series,  4th  ed.  340,  ^52, 


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Myths?\  The  CEdipus  Myths.  iS3 


12. — The   CEdipus   Myths. 

OIDIPOUS,    Swellfoot/  King    of  Thebes   (that    is   of  the 
heavens),  must  rank  himself  2is  an  Axis-god  with  Magnus  and 
IphiKratos  and  even  with  Tal6s, 

The  name  was  also  called  Olhmohr^s^  ^s  is  shown  by  Oidwrddao  in  the  Odyssey^ 
xi,  271  ;  Ilictdy  xxiii,  679  ;  Hesiod's  Op.  et  di,  163.  See  also  Pindar  Pyth,  iv, 
163.  In  Irish  myth  there  is  a  Fomorian  giant  (of  Tory,  that  is  tower,  island, 
and  of  Lochlann  in  the  North)  called  Sotal  of  the  big  heels  (s41mh6r).« 

The  vast  roots  or  feet  of  the  Universe-tree  (to  which  Oidipous 
was  hanged  by  the  feet — the  legend  getting  muddled)  depend  from 
it.  He  lived  and  died  where  the  profane  put  not  their  foot,  at  the 
Universe^pillar,  at  Colone,  KoXcoi^  (=hill)  and  KoXo)i//9,  which  we 
shall  taJce  the  liberty  of  connecting  with  /tfo\o(roro9,  columen,  and 
columna ;  and  was  notably  called  OlSiirov^  eVl  KoXpov^  and  CEdipus 
Coloneus.  His  end  takes  place,  like  that  of  so  many  other  axis- 
deities,  by  his  being  swallowed  up  by  the  Earth,  while  sitting  on  a 
stone-throne  (the  Japanese  rock-seat  of  heaven),  where  the  way 
parts  into  many  roads  (that  is,  at  the  centre  of  the  universe,  which 
is  also  Japanese)  ;  and  at  the  sound  of  a  thunderclap. 

T/t^eus  (a  supremest  divinity)  alone  knows  where  CEdipus  is 
engulphed  or  buried.  Of  course  there  is  a  fountain  called  after 
him,  the  QEdipodia.  He  is  the  son  of  Laios,  the  Stone-deity,  and 
'loKacmy ;  is  exposed  ^s  an  infant  on  Mount  KiOaipdv,^  which  we 
may  read  as  the  harp  {KiOapi^)  n^ountain,  the  musical  sphere  of 
the  heavens  ;  when  he  travels  he  goes  by  (and  with)  th^  stars. 
Later  in  the  myth  he  puts  out  his  eyes,  becomes  blind,  lik^  Teiresias 
and  so  many  of  his  high-placed  fellows.  He  murders  his  father 
like  the  great  gods  of  Phoenicia,  Greece,  and  Rome  ;  and,  like 
every  Babylonian  and  Egyptian  god  of  eminence,  is  the  consort  of 
his  own  mother,  who  casts  herself  from  the  summit  of  the  (heavens-) 
palace,  with  which  we  meet  so  often  in  this  Inquiry^  into  the  Hells. 
Some  versions  add  a  cord,  and  make  her  hang  herself  from  the 
roof,  which  parallels  Hera's  suspension  from  heaven  by  a  chain. 
OidiPous  joins  his  IoKast6  (whom  Pherecydes  made  his  daughtei) 
in  Tartaros,  for  they  are  then  fallen  deities. 

*  Apoll.  Bibi,  iii,  5.  7.  *  Dr.  Joyce's  Celtic  Romances,  41. 


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154 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


{Axis 


A  less  fuliginous  myth  makes  CEdipus  marry  Eurugan^  (Wide- 
shining  ?).* 

The  large  number  of  names  in  Eury-  Evpv-  may  be  referred  to  the  spacious 
{wpvi)  heavens  ;  but  the  (iron  ?)  "  washer"  of  an  axle  was  also  cvpoi  (plural). 

The  four  children  of  CEdipus  give  a  doublet  of  the  four  which 
comprise  Castor  and  Pollux  (IlokvAevicr}^)  ;  for  EteoKlfis  (true- 
Keystone?)  and  IloXvNelKf)^  were  to  reign  alternately  in  the 
heavens  (Thebes),  and  their  division  was  so  complete  that  even  the 
flames  of  their  funereal  pile,  and  of  the  jointrsacrifices  to  them,  rose 
apart  The  war  in  heaven  of  which  these  brothers  were  the  cause  is 
famous.  It  set  Argos  against  Thebes,  that  is  heaven  against 
itself;  and  it  was  right  that  Statius  should  give  it  the  zodiacal 
number  of  twelve  cantos. 

As  regards  the  guessing  of  the  Sphinx's  Universe-riddle  by 
OlBiirou^y  it  perhaps  points  rather  to  another  possible  signification  of 
his  name  as  (Witfoot)  the  Root-of-Kqowledge ;  bringing  it  from 
ilBw  (present  otSa  k.t.X.)  The  riddle  and  the  labyrinth  (with  the 
revolving  columns)  and  perhaps  the  Indian  nandyivarta  (see  "The 
Suastika  ")  must  all  be  put  into  the  same  bag  of  tricks. 

The  scholiast  on  the  (Edipus   Coloneus  noted  a  legend  that 


B£io9 


Semel6  ^  Zeus 
Dionusos 


Agavfi  =^  Echi6n 
PenTheos 


>  Poseid6n  =jF  Libu8 


Agfen6r  =f  T^lephassn 


T 


Ar^  ==  Aphrodite 


Kadmos  ^  Harmonia 


In6  nr  Athamas 
MeliKert^s  {alias  Palaim6n) 


I 
Autonol  ^  Aristaios 

I 
Aktai6n 


PoluD6ros  =jF  NuKt^b 

Labdakoe^ 
PeriPhas  ==  Aktaia      | 

T    .       _    .1 


IoKast6  nr  Laioe 


Oidii 


jusnF 


Phrast6r 


T 


loKast^  or  EuruGand 


PoluNeik^s 


EteoKias 


Ism€n£ 


LaoNutos 


lokaste 


Antigoti6 


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Mytks^^  The  CEdipus  Myths.  i55 

CEdipus  died  at  Thebes,  ue.  in  the  heavens,  and  the  Thebans 
refused  hira  burial  there  because  of  the  previous  calamities.  He 
was  then  buried  by  his  friends  at  Keos  in  Boi6tia.  Fresh  calami- 
ties ensued,  and  he  was  carried  to  Etednos  and  there  buried  by 
night,  not  knowing  in  the  dark  where  the  exact  spot  was,  within 
the  sanctuary  of  Dfim^t^r.^  (Here  we  have  clearly  heavens  and 
Earth,  Thebes  and  D^m^t^r's  sa-nctuary,  and  perhaps  the  Well 
of  Truth,  ^€09).  ^*To  the  Thebans  he  was  a  curse,  to  the 
Athenians  a  blessing  ;"'  th^t  is,  h^  was  both  god  ^nd  devil ;  a 
fallen  supernal  power, 


The  connection  of  Kol6nos  with  horsey  names  is  simplified  and 
explained  orjly  by  the  theory  that  the  Centaurs  were  central  horse- 
gods.  Thus  Hippios  KoIOnos  was  the  first  point  of  Attic  land 
reached  by  CEdipus,*  and  there  there  was  an  altar  to  Poseidon 
Hippios  and  Athena  Hippia,  anc}  n^onuments  to  Theseus  and 
Peirithoos  (End-Swift),  and  to  CEdipus  and  Adrastos.  In  the 
CEdipus  Coloneus  (668),  CEdipus  is  addressed  as  a  "  stranger  here 
in  a  Horsemen's  land,  in  White  Kol6nos  the  music-haunted." 
Here  we  clearly  have  the  white  hewens  and  the  music  of  the 
spheres.  Harpokration  {^.v,  Koldneta?)  gives  Koldnos  Agoraios, 
which  is  generally  interpreted  "of  the  market-place."*  But  this 
"  won't  wash."  There  was  an  Elian  temple  to  Artemis  Agofaia  in 
Olympia  ;  Athep^  Agor^ia  w^s  venerated  in  Sparta  ;  Zeus  was 
Agoraios,  and  50  was  Hermits,  not  *^  because  they  had  temples  in 
the  public  places  of  certain  towns,"  as  the  mythological  dictionaries 
record  in  parrot-fashion,  but  because  the  root  ag-^  to  drive,  urge, 
conduct  (the  Universe)  is  in  the  word.  The  market-place  sense  of 
the  consecrated  Agora  is  ^n  accreted  sense,  because  the  market 
"came"  there.  The  sellers  and  buyers,  especially  of  sacrificial 
offerings — "  those  that  sold  opcen  and  sheep  and  doves  " — always 
naturally  came  to  the  temple.  It  was  so  among  the  Phoenicians.* 
The  explanation  in  fact  is  "  the  other  way  up."  And  the  market 
was  at  the  ** place,"  at  the  "cross-roads"  (see  Index),  because  it 
was  the  city  spot  symbolic  of  the  heavenly  spot,  the  Agora,  from 

*  I^ysimachus  Alex,  frag,  6. 

'  Harrison  and  Vcrrall's  Ancient  Athens^  602. 

*  Paus.  i,  30,  4 ;  Androti6n,  frag.  31. 

*  Harrison  and  Verrall's  Amieni  Athens^  1 18. 

*  Rev.  aes  ^iuctes  fuives,  iii,  198,  199  (The  inscription  of  Citium,  Larnaka). 


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156  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

which  the  Universe  was  urged-round.  That  is  why  Koldnos  was 
Agoraios,  because  it  was  the  Axis-Column  on  which  the  whole 
machine  turned. 

And  1  submit  that  it  explains  the  dubitations  of  the  scholiast  on  Aristo- 
phanes {Birds  997,  where  the  99th  fragment  of  Philochoros  just  quoted  was 
given)  to  say  that  the  typical  Koldnos  of  the  Agora  was  the  Universe-Column 
(or  its  spot)  of  the  celestial  Agora.  The  tradition  too  which  the  scholiast  gave 
that  the  astronomical  instrument  of  Met6n  was  dedicated  in  Kol6nos  thus 
immediately  becomes  an  Axis-Column  Myth,  and,  as  one  has  often  suspected, 
the  name  Met6n  (meto,  measure)  may  be  viewed  as  a  possible  myth  also. 

The  Agora  was  the  celestial  place  of  assembly  of  the  gods, 
whence  the  word  of  God  proceeded,  before  it  became  the  earthly 
meeting-place  of  men  where  their  debates  took  place. 

The  archaic  Agora,  like  the  Roman  forum,  was  the  very  centre  and  heart 
of  the  city.  It  was  rectangular,  in  the  form  of  a  plinthos  or  brick.  The  odd 
name  of  the  assembly-enclosure  therein,  the  irvvfc  requires  elucidation.  (Sec, 
for  example,  the  99th  fragment  of  Philochoros,  which  showed  the  doubts  of  his 
time.)'  The  vcJ/iot  or  magistrates  of  the  Agora  at  Athens  were  ten  ;  but  in  Sparta 
they  were  seven — the  Seven  Wise  Mei)  again — under  the  presidency  of  (an 
eighth  ?)  a  Presbus.  The  Cretan  chief  magistrates  were  also  ten,  and  were 
called  Kosmoi,  a  title  which  can  be  connected  with  the  Cosmos,  the  ordered 
Universe. 

I  here  record  a  curious  fact  which  it  seems  to  me  can  only  be  explained  by 
the  theories  here  urged.  It,  naturally,  puzzled  M.  Alfred  M^zi^res.  Below 
Khorto-Kastro,  on  the  south  slopes  of  ^he  earthly  Mount  Pelion,  the  peasants 
still  dig  and  find  wall-foundations  whjch  they  call  icoXAvair.  "  I  thought  at  first 
that  real  columns  were  in  question,  but  I  had  occasion  in  the  sequel  to  remark," 
wrote  M.  M^zi^res,  "  that  the  peasants  of  Magnesia  meant  by  this  somewhat 
pretentious  term  mere  stones  of  great  dimensions.'**  Here  we  have  the  great 
stone— pillar-stone  or  other — called,  no  doubt  from  most  archaic  times,  a 
column. 

[See  also  "  The  Colophon."] 

*  Didot's  frag.  Hist,  Grac,  i,  400.  I  Le  Pilion  et  POssa,  Paris,  1853,  p.  22. 


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Myths.']  The  Cardinal  Points.  «57 


13. — The  Cardinal  Points. 

[I  am  here  forced  to  anticipate  some  of  the  Pillar  section,  in  order  to  get 
together  the  facts  about  the  numbers  Four  and  Eight  And  of  course  the 
cardinal  points  belong  strictly  to  the  Heavens-myths,  rather  than  to  the  Axis- 
myths.] 

CLEMENT  of  Alexandria,  writing  of  the  Hebrew  Tabernacle 
and  its  furniture,^  says :  "  Four  pillars  there  are,  the  sign  of 
the  sacred  Tetrad  of  the  ancient  covenants." 
Perhaps     we     may    see    these 
grouped  together  in  the  clusters 
of  4  round  columns  in  the  ruined 
temple  of  the  Chaldean  god  Nin 
Girsu  at  Tello,  of  which  Heuzey 
gives  a  plan.* 

a  shows  (say)  the  lowest  course  of 
bricks — 8  radiating  from  a  central 
round ;  b  shows  the  course  overlying 
it — 8  bricks  radiating  from  a  central 
point  into  a  rim ;  c  and  d  show  both 
courses ;  the  lower  being  partly  stripped, 
partly  covered  by  the  upper.  The 
number  4  being  here  cardinal,  8  (4  x  2) 

is  clearly  half-cardinal ;  and  the  mimicry  <C»  0U 

of  the  wheel  in  both  courses — one  with  a  hub,  the  other  with  a  tire — is  patent. 

In  the  very  archaic  rituals  for  HindCl  cow-sacrifices,  the  sacri- 
ficial post  is  ordered  to  be  either  square  or  octagonal.*  The 
earliest  Egyptian  pillars  (of  buildings)  were  square,  without  base 
or  abacus.  In  the  i8th  dynasty  the  square  pillar  still  survived 
among  the  more  elaborate  forms,  and  these  rude  square  forms 
support  statues  of  the  mummiform  Osiris.  Iii  the  12th  dynasty 
the  square  pillar  had  become  8(=4  x  2)orl6(=^  8  x  2) 
sided.* 

Gerhard*  ingeniously  sought  to  connect  the  quadrangular  Pillar 
surmounted  by  a  head  (which  forms  a  sacred  symbolic  representa- 

*  Stromata,  ▼,  6.  *  Uhpaiais  ChahUen^  pp.  37-58* 

*  RdjendraUUa  Mitra's  Indo-AryoHs  i,  369. 
<  Pierret's  Diet,  if  Arch.  Egypt.  60,  139. 

*  De  relig.  Hermarum  (Berlin,  184$).     Pausanias  (x,  12)  mentioned  a  square  stone 
IIcrm3s  near  the  sepulchre  of  the  sibyl  H6ropbil8  at  Delphi. 


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15^  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  \Axis 

tion  of  a  class  of  gods  that  includes  Herm^)  with  the  Cabiric 
divinities  of  Samothrace  and  of  the  Pelasgians  in  general.  With- 
out trespassing  on  the  details  of  the  section  that  will  here  deal 
with  such  gods,  it  may  be  said  now  that  its  main  thesis  is  that 
the  Semitic  Kabirim  and  the  Greek  Kd/Setpoi^  the  Strong,  the 
Powerful,  are  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  gods  of  the  chief  great 
Forces  of  the  Cosmic  Machinery. 

The  Egyptian  farthest  limits,  according  to  Brugsch,^  were  the 
4  props,  the  "  Stutzen,"  of  the  heavens.  On  the  stela  of  Tehutimes 
III  (circa  1600  B.C.?)  in  the  Boulaq  Museum,  the  god  Ra  says  to 
the  king:    "It  is   I  that   make  thy  terror  extend   to  the   Four 

Supports     of    the    heavens"    <=>   B  ^  (1^ ][][][][ "^TD^* 

And  the  inscription  of  Ramses  II  on  the  Thames-Embankment 
obelisk  says  :    He  has  conquered  even  unto  the  4  pillars  of  the 

earth.*  Each  of  these  4  props  is  a  khi  ®  m  ^^  (the  last  hiero- 
glyph manifesting  the  labour  of  Atlas,  the  Egyptian  Shu).  Khi  also 
means  the  heavens,  the  height  above  all,  when  written 


I 
(the    last    glyph    being    the    determinant    for    the   heavens)  or 

i  IWST^  (the  last  glyph  being  the  protecting  heavens-goddess 
Nut).  Khi  •  m  F=q  or  ®  (](|  ^  also  means  roof  and  protection. 
TAes  ^^  1  ^jyjf  the  raised  or   upheld,  is   also  a  name  for   the 

heavens,  and  tAes  ^^  1    is  a  support. 

On  the  Dend^rah  celestial  chart,  erroneously  called  a  zodiac, 
4  erect  female  figures,  the  goddesses  of  the  N.  S.  E.  and  W.,  hold 
up  the  heavens,  assisted  by  8  hawk-headed  figures.  Here  we  have 
12  made  up  of  4  -f-  8,  or  rather  4(1-1-2).  See  further  as  to 
the  number  12  at  p.  173  m/ra. 

A  ** magical"  text,  as  translated  by  the  late  distinguished 
Dr.  S.  Birch,  finds  an  evident  explanation  here : 

"There  are  4  mansions  of  life  [that  is,  as  I  should  venture  to  expound,  4 
astrological  "houses"]  Osiris  is  master  thereof.  The  4  houses  are  [named 
after]  Isis,  Nephthys,  Seb,  and  Nu.  Isis  is  placed  in  one,  Nephthys  in  another, 
Horus  in  one,  Tahuti  in  another,  at  the  4  angles ;  Seb  is  above,  Nu  is  below. 
The  4  outer  walls  are  of  stone.     It  has  2  stories,  its  foundation  is  sand,  its 

*  Geo^,  Inschr,  ii,  35.  *  Mariette,  JCartuiky  pi.  11,  II.  3,  4. 

•  D.  Mosconas,  Obilisques^  Alexandria  1877,  pp.  5,  7. 


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Myths.^  The  Cardinal  Points.  159 

exterior  is  jasper,  one  is  placed  to  the  South,  another  to  the  North,  another  to 
the  West,  another  to  the  East"* 

This  seems  to  me  to  throw  the  true  astr<<logical  h'ght  upon  the 
names  of  Nephthys  =  Nebt-hetW  House-Lady,  and  Hathor  =  het- 
Heru  I^T,  Horus-house. 


The  urns  g  called  Canopic  are  grouped  in  fours  in  the  Egyptian 
tombs.  The  4  "genii "  or  rather  gods  of  these  urns  were  Amseth 
or     Mestha   (j  ^v    |JU  or  ^^  \  (1    (w/a«-headed),    Qebhsenut 

fi  I  ^  (^^'^-headed),  Tuaumutef  *^"^-=—  (V^>&tf/ "-headed), 
and  H&pi  (^^-headed).  The  4  were  children  of  Osiris,  and  they 
are  ordinarily  represented  in  mummy  form ;  and  the  4  urns  held 
each  a  separate  portion  of  the  intestines  of  the  mummy  in  whose 
tomb  they  were  placed  :  for  instance  Tuaumutefs  held  the  heart. 
[These  I  bracket  later  on,  p.  185,  with  the  Four  Living  Creatures.] 
These  urn-gods  were  also  painted  in  coffins  near  the  head  of 
the  mummy  (second  coffin  of  Shutem^s,  Louvre).*  They  accom- 
pany the  central  symbol,  the  tat  u  (first  coffin  of  Shutem^s,  where 

De  Roug^  called  them  funereal  genii). 

In  a  funereal  ritual  of  the  i8th  d)masty  the  "  basin  of  [hell]  fire  "  is  guarded 
by  "4  cynocephalous  apes"  who  were,  said  De  Roug^,  "the  genii  charged  to 
efface  the  soils  of  iniquity  from  the  soul  of  the  just,  and  complete  his  purifi- 
cation." Again  he  said  (of  one  face  of  the  base  of  the  Luxor  obelisk)  that 
"4  apes  of  the  species  called  cynocephalous  stand  with  their  arms  raised. 
They  represent  the  spirits  of  the  East  in  adoration  before  the  rising  sun." 
If  he  had  added  W.  N.  and  S.,  and  left  out  the  sun,  he  would  have  been  nearer 
the  truth.  Dr.  Wallis  Budge  now  informs  me  that  it  is  accepted  that  they  are 
the  cardinal  points. 

One  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  great  heb  or  pan^guris  of  Amen 
was  to  call  4  (wild  ?)  geese  by  the  names  of  the  4  funereal  genii, 
and  then  to  let  them  fly  towards  the  4  points  of  the  horizon.' 
This  IS  an  important  proof  in  the  argument  I  am  here  developing. 

These  4  urn-gods,  again,  may  be  the  "4   Lares-gods  revered  by  the 
Egyptians:    Anachis,   D>Tnon,  Tychis,  and  H^ros,"  who  used  to  puzzle  the 
savants  of  the  past.^ 
Besides  these  4  gods,  the  4  urns  also  had  female  protectors  in 

Isis,  Nephthys,  Neith,  and  Selk*  O^'^^Si^  J.     These  goddesses 

*  Records  of  the  Past,  vi,  113. 

*  E.  de  Roug^  Notice  Sommaire  (1876),  pp.  107,  106,  loi,  54. 

*  Pierret,  Diet,  388.  ♦  Noel,  Diet,  de  la  Fable,  1803,  i,  87. 
'  Pierret,  Diet,  115. 


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i6o  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 

(or  three  of  them)  are  of  the  first  rank  ;  why  not  also  the  urn-gods 
with  the  strange  names  ?  And  would  not  these  (4  -f  4  =)  8  be  one 
version  of  the  8  ;^emenn(i  (seep.  166)  ? 

Some  of  these  urns,  of  an  enormous  size,i  seem  to  have  been 
used  in  the  HapI-buU  tombs.  They  were  at  times  made  of  wood, 
finely  painted.  Nut  the  heavens-goddess  sometimes  replaced 
Neith  as  a  guardian.  If,  as  it  seems  to  me  they  must,  the  4  guards 
(or  dual  guards)  clearly  refer  to  the  4  cardinal  points,  we  have 
still  a  curious  survival  with  us  in  the  phrase  '*  scattering  his  dust 
to  the  4  winds  of  heaven." 

I  think  we  can  detect  a  very  similar  conception  among  the 
Siibbas  or  Mandoyo  of  Mesopotamia,  who  say  that  the  four 
ShambCib^  are  buried  at  the  four  cardinal  points,  and  guarded  by 
four  angels.  These  shambdlb^  are  the  principles  of  the  winds,  and 
if  they  escaped  the  world  would  be  overtufned.^  This  burial 
must  also  be  connected  ^with  the  archaic  sacrificial  biirial-alive  of 
human  beings  under  the  foundations  of  bridges,  fortresses,  and  so  on. 

Perhaps  few  will  contest  the  conclusion  I  am  about  to  draw : 
that  in  these  Cardinal  entrails-deities  we  have  the  explanation  of 
the  hitherto  most  puzzling  fact  in  Latin  mythology  that  the 
essentially  popular  goddess  Cardea,  Carda,  or  Dea  Cardinis  was 
prayed-to,  sacrificed  and  feasted*to,  in  order  to  obtain  immunity 
from  internal  complaints  the  whole  year  through.  She  was  asked 
to  fortify  the  heart,  the  kidneys,  and  all  the  viscera. 

(No  doubt  there  was  also  here  too  a  connection  of  the  carnal  and  the 
Cosmic  omphalos,  which  we  shall  see  more  fully  in  the  section  on  "The 
Navel") 

SeyfTert's  recent  Dictionary  says  "  it  is  doubtful  whether  she  is 
to  be  identified  with  the  goddess  Carna,"  but  no  foundation  is 
stated  for  this  doubt.  Carna*s  first  temple  was  founded  on  the 
Mons  Caelius,  in  mythic  times  of  course  ;  and  this  mountain  is,  in 
myth,  the  heavens-mountain.  The  annual  sacrifice  was  on  the  ist 
of  June,  and  of  a  sow,  the  flesh  .of  which  was  eaten  with  beans, 
which  (in  passing)  gives  us  our  bean-feasts.  (See  also  Cardo,  under 
"The  North.") 

It  is  odd  that  the  above  urn-god  H^pi  and  Ptah's  Hapi,  the  Bull,  seem  to 
have  a  hieroglyphic  connection  :  ^ 

Hipi,  one  of  the  Cardinal  deities,     m 

>  De  Roug^,  Not,  Scm.  59,  67,  104. 

•  Siouflfi,  /^eli^,  des  Saubhas  ou  SMens^  61.     See  also  what  is  said  about  the  pillar- 
windgods,  under  the  head  of  **  The  Dual  Pillars." 


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Afyihs.l^  The  Cardinal  Points.  '^i 

9ap  (Apis)  J  $  ^  and  J  ^  ^. 

gap,  Hapi  (NUe)  ^ "^ ^^  and  ?  g^ l=r  and  ?    j^  . 

The  ^  in  the  cardinal  Hapi's  and  bull  Hap's  names  clearly  refers  to  the 
[f^  in  the  title  of  these  four  genii,  "  lords  of  the  kebs  (or  angles)  of  heaven," 
"^JlP      (Pierret:  Vocab,t\i\ 

Here,  I  suggest,  we  have  a  most  archaic  origin  for  the  Free- 
mason's square,i  and  these  four  comers  exactly  concord  with  the 
Chinese  absolute  conception  of  a  square  Earth  and  a  square  altar 
of  Earth,  while  that  of  the  Heavens  is  round.  W6n-tzu  (4th  cent. 
B.C.)  said  *'  Earth  is  square  but  unlimited,  so  that  no  man  can  see 
its  portals."  Hwai  Nan-tzu  wrote  **  the  goddess  Nu-Kua  bears  on 
her  back  the  square  Earth,  embracing  with  her  arms  the  circle  of 
the  sky " — ^a  curious  inversion  of  the  Egyptian  Nut  bending  over 
Earth-Seb  (see  pp.  87,  158).  The  marriage  of  heavens  and  earth, 
that  is  of  O  and  □  produced  all  things  (which  brings  us  again  to 
the  Yin  and  the  Yang).     The  Chinese  cash,  the  round  coin  with  the 

©square  hole  thus  becomes  supremely  symbolic,  and  denotes 
also  a  perfect  man.*    This  is  not,  of  course,  as  Prof.  Schlegel 
reminds  me,  the  origin  of  the  form  of  the  cash. 

In  the  A  vesta  the  battle  between  Thra^taona  the  son  of  the 
Waters,  the  Firegod,  and  Azhi  Dahdka  the  fiendish  snake,  takes 
place  in  cathrugaosho  Varend  (4-cornered  Varena).*  In  the  Vedas 
Traitana  wages  .the  corresponding  battle  in  catur-ashrir  Varuno* 
(4-pointed  Varuna).  This  of  course  is  the  cardinally  divided 
heavens,  and  is  too  a  connexion  of  Varuna  Varena  with  Ovpavo^y 
as  meaning  the  whole  vault.  [These  points  become  horns  in 
RigVeda  iv,  58,  3  :  "four  are  hia  horns."] 

We  have  now,  I  think,  overwhelming^  evidence  of  the  identity 
of  these  four  Egyptian  Lords  of  the  four  Angles  of  the  heavens 
with  the  four  cardinal  celestial  Beings  dealt  with  at  p.  184. 

It  seems  to  me,  too,  that  this  gives  us  the  origin  of  the  confusion 
about  the  term  *'  Canopic,"  which  may  be  unravelled  as  follows : — 

I.  Keb,  angle,  i3as  above  a\  p.  Angle  is  also  kenb  ^j^  J  P  and 
[j~'  alone.  Here  clearly  we  have  to  do  with  the  right  angle,  one  of  the  four 
angles  of  a  true  square.    Keb  or  Kenb  also  appears  as  Kajy  /^  ^    J  Jt  "^  ^^^ 

*  Compare  hept,  a  squajw,  a  rectangle    A  °    and   [po. 

*  H.  A.  Giles :  Historic  Chiim^  385.  •  Darmesteter's  Z,  A.  i,  Ixii  >  ii,  298. 
<  RigV,  i,  152,  a. 

L 


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l62 


The  Night  of  tJie  Gods. 


[Axis 


a  phrase  as  "  the  establishing  of  his  four  Kat  like  the  pillars  of  the  heavens."* 
It  would  appear  that  Keb,  Kenb  and  Kat  are  merely  dialect  differences  ;   for 

the  word  for  arm,  Keb   ^  U  ^    and  ^^        ^  (which  perhaps  me^s  the  arm 

as  bent  at  the  elbow)  appears  also  as  Ka^. 

2.  Keb  ^  J  ^  is  also  a  vase,  and  Kebh  ^  J  )[  |y  is  a  sacred  libation- 
vase  ;  Khebkheb  •!  ©J  t7  is  also  a  vase.  Another  obvious  reason  of  the 
confusion  with  the  vase-idea  was,  of  course,  the  putting  of  the  entrails  into  the 
four  urns.     "An  Egyptian  god  with  a  human  head  covered  with  the  atef 

/  f  ^KSv  and  whose  body  has  the  form  of  a  vase  5    *s  supposed  to  be 

Canopus,"  says  M.  Pierret  {Dicf.  115). 

3.  Now  return  to  the  "  lords  of  the  angles  "  (or  four  comers) ;  neb  ^^37  and 
y  J  and  nebi  /wwvs  J  (|(]  Jl  mean  lord,  in  the  supreme  sense  we  are  in  want  of 

And  neb  v ^  also  means  the  All.     If  there  could  have  been  the  word  KalJ^-neb 

for  these  cardinal  deities,  the  confounding  with  Kava>/3or  or  Kavwiros  and 
Canopus  would  be  put  out  of  all  practical  doubt  The  Egyptian  name  of  Kavmros 
(in  the  Decree  of  that  ilk)  is  Pekuathet  a  ^  {  O*  It  seems  too  that  there 
subsists  a  Coptic  name  for  the  place,  Kahen-nub  =  golden  soil'  Brugsch  and 
Mariette'  point  out  a  Kanup  ft  ^  O  in  the  7th  nome,  as  an  Egyptian  transcrip- 
tion of  the  Greek  Kaya>/3of . 

It  might  be  added  in   passing  that  this  view  of  these  four 

Powers   may  throw  the  required  light  on   the  mysterious  glyph 

which  has   been   read  vemennu,  eight  (Zeitschrift 

^■*^y^-p"^^     1865,   26),    The  crossing  curves  of  this  glyph  are 

T%/\jtT    ^^''^"6^'y  ^^^^  ^^  divisions  of  the  sphere  in  a  12th 

^^     ^*i^     century   (Spanish)   Manuscript  Latin  commentary 

on   the    Apocalypse    in   the    British    Museum   (Anonymi   Com- 

mentarius  in  Apocalypsin,    Add.  ii,  695),  which  gives  the  four 

beasts  winged  and  "full  of  eyes,"  perched 
upon  wheels  which  are  also  full  of  eyes  ; 
but  the  "  wheels "  bear  a  very  striking 
resemblance  to  celestial  globes.  I  ap- 
pend a  rough  sketch  of  one  of  these 
I  "  globes "  ;  and  it  seems  worthy  of 
remark  that  the  4-armed  circle  so  fre- 
quent on  Dr.  Schliemann's  Hissarlik 
whorls  (see  "The  Chakra"  and  "The 
Suastika"    later  on)   occurs  on    them 

>  FouiUes  d  Abydos,  50:  15  (Pierret's  Vocab,  613). 

«  Guignaut's  Creuicr.  ii,  311     /^  ,,  \  ^^   K^^,  Y2>^\  =  tcwa. 

•  Dtndirah^  iv,  75,  io» 


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Myths ^  The  Cardinal  Points.  163 

This  emblem  seems  to  me  to  be  indicative  of  the  revolving  wheel 
or  sphere — a  sort  of  compound  suastika — and  not  to  be  a  "  cuttle- 
fish," as  has  been  conjectured  by  some.  The  resemblance  of  the 
main  curves  to  a  double  (and  crossing)  yin-yang  division  (see  "  The 
Tomoye  ")  is  also  very  strange.     Or,  again,  are  they  4  wings  ? 

As  to  Tuau-Mut-ef  (on  p.  159)  ^  J^  *^— -  ^,  it  must  first  be 
noted  that  ^  is  the  determinative  (when  used  as  such)  of  "  a  star,  a 
constellation,  a  god."^  Then  the  syllabic  value  of  -j^  is  tua.  The 
likeness  to  the  modem  French  dieu  (Picardy  diu  ;  Franche-Comt6 
due ;  Catalan  deu  ;  Old  French  deu)  may  be  not  alone  assonant 
but  radical.  If  so,  we  get  a  straight  and  immediate  connexion  of 
deus,  itb^,  dyo,  with  a  star.     To  follow  this  up : 

tuau  =  to  praise,  glorify,  adore  *  "^  |  ^^  ^  '^ 

^u  =t  adorer    ^  >5  m 

neter  tuau  n  Amen  =  ador^w  of  Amen  "]  ^J{^  \  ^^  the  priestess  cf 
Amen.  An  hereditary  title  going-back  to  the  Theban  kings,  and 
appearing  to  be  attached  to  their  legitimate  family.  (J.  de  Rouge 
Rev,  Arch,  1865,  ii,  323.) 

neter  ^uau  =  divinely  to  honour  H  "*  >S 

pa  ^u  =  consecration-chapel  of  the  kings  (literally  house  pf  god)  ^ 

tuau  =  unction-oil  ^Tj     V^  ^ 
Then  we  have 

Tuau-t  =  the  under  hemisphere  )lc  jg^  ^^  ^^^  ®  CD 

tuauti  =  dweller  in  under  hemisphere  ^  ^  ^  J]  and  ^y^  HI]  Irrr^a 
These  last  will  astonish  no  one  who  follows  what  is  said  in  this  Inquiry  (see 
Index)  as  to  fallen  gods,  and  the  Egyptian  conception  of  the  nether  world  c| 
the  dead.     We  have,  too,  an  analogue  in  our  own  tongue,  where  Deus  has 
become  the  deuce,  a  very  devil.*    We  have  also 

tua,  duau  =  Time,  the  hour,  morning,   <-"*^  S^  J  and  )*(  ^  ^  0  and 

Tua  ^91^  ^s  ^^^  s^^^  (Pierret*s  Vocab.  703)  to  be  the  "  God  of  the 
Morning^  but  it  is  not  explained  why  he  is  especially  made  the  god 
of  the  morning  alone ;  he  ought  at  least  to  be  Time,  or  the  Heavens- 
god,  generally. 
(It  must  not  be  omitted  that  the  star  )lc  was  also  read  seb,  a  star,  and  had 
»  Dr.  Birch's  Egyptian  Texts,  p.  98, 

«  C/.alsoSyriac  CUj»  IcLiJ  Sans-     ^  ^fioc.Dtus,  Pers.  ^.*^  (Dr.  Wallis  Budge). 

L  2 


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1 64  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

the  letter  and  syllable  values  of  s  and  s^d.  fu  §=9  ^^^  meant  mountain,  and 
0:^3   the  determinative  for  mountain,  spelt  ^u  as  well  as  )k  did.) 

Tua    ri  5    is  a  pillar. 

Tefi  g^    I'l  A  "^^a^s  self-motion,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  primary 

self-motion  was  that  of  the  heavens.    This  would  make  the  goddess  Tefout  ^^ 

simply  the  revolving  Nut  ^-^  and  ^-^  ^  and  as  we  have  Shu  and  Tefhut 
as  children  of  Ri,  and  as  Shu  is  most  probably  an  Atlas,  we  should  thus  have 
the  Axis-god  and  the  Heavens-goddess  that  revolves  around  it  brother  and 
sister,  which  is  good  mythology.  Tef  ^^  or  ^^  is  father,  and  tefoeter 
T  ^^  is  divine-father,  which  seems  a  direct  parallel  to  DiesPiter.  Tef,  father, 
is  also  atef  (|  ^^  which  gives  atef-neter  "]  l|  ^^  [Note  the  serpent  in 
all  these.]  Now  the  very  composite  divine  head-dress  atef  ^  ^^  must  be 
intimately  connected  with  all  this.  There  is  also  a  tree  atef  ^  ^^  or 
^  x^"^  2"*^  *  blade  (sacrificial,  or  the  heavens-sword  ?)  atef  ^  ^^ 


To  return  from  this  excursus  about  the  Egyptian  cardinal  gods 
to  the  Four  Cardinal  Points,  we  find  that  in  the  extremely  archaic 
Chinese  Shi-King  (Odes-book),  which  is  supposed  to  be  all  pre- 
Confucian  though  collected  by  or  in  the  name  of  that  sage,  the 
Emperor  Siian  (827  B.c)  praying  for  rain  says  he  has  never  failed 
to  make  offerings  to  the  Cardinal  points  and  the  Earth-gods.* 

The  south  temple  of  T*ien,  the  heavens,  at  Peking  is  approached 
by  4  separate  sets  of  stairs  at  the  cardinal  points  ;  while  the  North 
temple  has  8,  in  relation  with  the  Pa-kwa,  8  diagrams,*  or  directions. 
In  the  centre  of  a  ceiling  in  the  Shintd  temple  of  Sengen  at 
Shidzuoka  in  Japan,  is  carved  a  "dragon  of  the  four  quarters, 
shihd  no  ri6 "  ;  and  on  New-year's  morning  the  worship  of  the 
Four  Quarters  is  an  important  ceremony  in  the  Mikado's  palace.* 
The  Chinese  expression  "  to  the  four  sides"  is.  used  in  the  Japanese 
7th  century  Kojiki^  to  mean  in  every  direction,  just  like  our  own 
"  to  the  four  quarters." 

An  important  passage  of  the  Rig  Veda  (iv,  58,  3)  says :  "  May 
the  4-homed  (chatuh-sringah)  Brahm4  listen  ....  4  are  his 
horns,  3  are  his  feet,  his  heads  are  2,  his  hands  are  7.  The 
triple-bound  showerer  roars  aloud,  the  mighty  deity  has  entered 
amongst  men."  Among  the  interminable  illustrations  of  this 
by  the  HindCl  commentators,  one  can  pick  out  the  4  horns  as  the 

>  ShuJCtng^  iii,  3,  4.  *  Simpson's  Meeting  the  Sun^  179,  183. 

*  Satow  and  Hawes,  Handbook^  68,  352.  Chamberlain's,  p.  175. 


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Myths,']  The  Cardinal  Points.  165 

4  cardinal  points  ;  the  2  heads  as  day  and  night  (?) ;  and  the  7 
hands  as  the  7  rays  (stars  ?).  But  the  2  heads  may  rather  refer  to 
the  north  and  south  poles,  and  to  the  general  principle  of  duality  ; 
and  the  3  feet  doubtless  (like  the  3-legged  symbol  still  extant  in 
the  Isle  of  Man)  refer  to  the  3  footsteps  on  heaven,  earth  and  hell. 

Brahm^  is  otherwise  called  chatur-^nana  or  chatur-mukha,  four- 
faced  ;  and  the  four  kum^ras  are  his  sons.  The  expression  of  "the 
four-armed  god"  indicates  Bhagavat  (Vishnu)  in  the  Bhdgavata- 
purana  (i,  7, 52).  In  Chinese  Buddhism  are  the  four  mah^r^jas  who 
guard  the  world  against  the  attacks  of  the  Asuras,  says  Mr.  H.  A. 
Giles  '}  but  I  fancy  these  are  rather  the  four  d^varajahs  or  t'ien  wang 
55  i  who  guard  the  four  slopes  of  Mount  M^ru,  and  protect  Budd- 
hist sanctuaries.*  These  are  also  the  Siamese  Buddhist's  four 
guardians  of  the  world  :  Thatarot  =  Skt  Dhritar^shtra  (E),  Wiru- 
lahok,  Viriidhaka  (S),  Wirupak,  Viriip^ksha  (W)  and  Wetsuwan, 
V^igravana  (N).  Their  palaces  are  in  the  Yukon thon  annular 
range  of  mountains  which  surrounds  central  M^ru,*  and  must  thus 
be  horizonal.  One  may  theorise  perhaps  that  the  Freemasonic 
"Quatuor  Coronati"  are  not  undescended  from  all  these  great 
quartettes.  There  is  a  church  of  the  Quatuor  Coronati  in  Rome. 
And  that  huge  four-poster  the  Universe  has  its  analogue  even  in  our  chil- 
dren's "  litde  beds,"  and  in  the  nursery  prayer : 

Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John, 
Bless  the  bed  that  I  Ja^r  on.  I  ^e^ 

The  Bombay  Gazette  Budget  of  31st  Jan.,  1891,  informs  us  that  "An  Ameri- 
can novelty  is  the  Ritualist's  bed,  very  handsome  in  brass,  fitted  with  niches 
for  saints,  statues,  holy-water  fonts,  and  a  candlestick  at  each  of  the  four 
comers.  It  is  expected  that  it  will  specially  attract  the  Spanish  Catholics,  who 
have  leanings  towards  the  devotional  in  their  bed-rooms  "  (see  p.  238  infra). 

The  King  of  Hungary  on  his  coronation  rides  to  an  eminence^ 
and  there  brandishes  his  sword  towards  the  four  quarters.  In  Irish 
myth,  Finn  sat  on  the  highest  point  of  a  hill  (Collkilla  or  Knoc- 
kainy)  viewing  the  four  points  of  the  sky.  One  of  Mailduin's 
islands  is  divided  into  four  parts  by  four  walls — of  gold,  silver, 
copper,  and  crystal — meeting  in  the  centre.  There  were  four  tribes 
of  Lochlann  the  Northern  Kingdom  of  the  De  Dananns.  The 
Fianna  (Fenians)  were  divided  into  four  battalions.  And  we  seem 
to  detect  the  Chinese  Jive  in  the  five  provinces  of  Erin,  and  the 
statement  that  Grania  bore  Diarmait  four  sons  and  one  daughter.* 

*  Historic  China,  280.    •  Mayers,  Manual,  p.  310.    ■  Alabaster's  Wheel  of  the  Law,  178, 
*  Dr.  Joyce's  Old  Celtic  Romances,  139,  178,  220,  227,  349,  333. 


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The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


THE  NUMBER  EIGHT.  The  sacredness  of  the  Number 
Eig-At  seems  chiefly  if  not  wholly  to  follow  from  that  of  the 
number  Four,  as  being  formed  by  the  addition  of  the  4  half- 
cardinal  to  the  4  cardinal  points. 

The  Eight  "elementary"  gods  of  Egypt,  the  (;^emennu) 
i!!!  o^  uu  ^^^  really  four  twos,  four  male  and  female  or  dual 
pairs.  Their  names  often  vary.  An  inscription  of  EdfQ  (Deb, 
Apollonopolis  Magna)  called  them  "  the  most  great  of  the  first 
time ;  the  august  who  were  de/ore  the  gods ;  children  of  Ptah 
issued  forth  of  him,  engendered  to  take  the  North  and  the  South 
[that  is  the  Universe],  to  create  in  Thebes  and  in  Memphis ;  the 
creators  of  all  creation."  Sesun  or  ;^emennu  l]P  q^  or  =  =  q^ 
as  the  name  of  Hermopolis,  relates  to  these  8  gods  who  assisted 
Thoth  in  his  office  of  orderer  of  the  creation.^  See  also  the  mention 
of  these  ;^emennu  at  pp.  160,  162,  and  the  8  hawk-headed  celestial 
figures  at  Dend^rah,  p.  158. 

"  The  Akhimous  seem  to  have  been  the  astra  plan6mena  and  the  apland 
astra  of  the  Egyptians,  who  deified  them  and  confided  to  them  the  towing  of 
the  barque  in  which  the  sun  traverses  the  heavens.  See  the  Book  of  the  Dead^ 
XV,  2  ;  xxii,  2  ;  xcviii,  3  ;  cii,  i  ;  Ixxviii,  28."  So  said  M.  Pierret*s  Dictionnaire. 
M«  Gr^baut,  reporting  on  the  great  subterranean  discoveries  of  sarcophagi  at 
Thebes  (Deir  el  Bahari)  this  year,  writes*  that  "  the  AkhinuHi  that  some  thought 
were  stars  are  quadrupeds  which  draw  the  solar  barque.  There  are  8  of  them, 
4  white  and  4  black.  Each  group  of  4  contains  2  white  and  2  black.  They 
are  not  jackals.  Those  of  one  group  have  the  ears  of  the  uas  sceptre  **  (sec 
supra^  p.  57).  These  must  be  zodiacal  powers ;  and  I  suggest  that  the  barque 
was  (if  at  all)  not  originally  that  of  the  sun,  but  the  Heavens-boat,  or  ship. 
(As  to  the  black  and  white,  see  "  The  Arcana.")    Does  the  word  axim  belong 

to  ax  ^^  to  raise  up,  support,  suspend  ;  which  also,  with  the  deter- 

minative for  wing  ^^,  meant  to  fly,  to  hover. 

I  must  not  here  omit  to  mention  the  Eight  Vasus,  forms  of  fire 
or  light,  protectors  and  regulators  of  the  8  regions  of  the  world, 
who  figure  in  Hind(i  mythology  next  to  Brahm^,  and  have  Indra 
for  chief.*  The  G^yatrt  or  forepart  of  the  ancient  HindCl  sacrifice 
consisted  of  8  syllables.* 

The  8-comered  sacrificial  post  or  stake  of  the  same  sacrifice,  and  the 
8- sided  silver  pillar  of  Mailduin*s  Voyage  are  dealt-with  (as  Axis-symbols) 
under  the  head  of  "  The  Pillar"  ;  and  we  have  just  seen  at  p.  157  the  8  bricks 
in  each  of  tbe  4  pillars  at  Tello.     See  also  the  evolution  of  the  typical 

*  lUerrei:  Diet.  200,  258.  '  Academy^  7th  March,  1891,  p.  240. 

'  Sir  Monier  Williams,  Hinduism,  167.  *  Eggeling'8  Sat.  Brdhm.  313. 


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The  Cardinal  Points. 


167 


Egyptian  octagonal  pillar  from  the  squared  post,  same  page.  Other  similar 
facts  may  be  found  by  the  Index.  As  to  the  8-angled  stone  of  the  Bektishi 
dervishes'  convent-hall,  see  p.  128.  See  also  the  8  sets  of  stairs  to  the  North 
temple  of  the  heavens  at  Peking,  p.  164 ;  the  famous  octagonal  tower  of 
the  Winds  at  Athens  under  the  heading  of  "  The  Tower,"  the  octagonal  temple 
at  Nara,  p.  171 ;  and  the  8-pointed  star-minars  of  India  under  the  head  of  "The 
Pillar/' 

The  Dome  of  the  Rock  at  Jerusalem  is  an  octagonal  building, 
which  never  had  more  than  4  piers  in  its  inner  and  8  in  its  outer 
circle  of  columns.  Between  each  of  the  inner  4  piers  are  3 
columns,  and  between  each  of  the  outer  8  are  2  columns ;  that  is 
16  compass-points  are  marked  in  the  inner  and  24  in  the  outer.^ 

About  half-an-hour  to  the  S.  W.  of  Baalbek,  on  the  road  to 
Shtdra,  is  the  village  of  DClris,  with  the  "  Kubbet  Diiris,"  which  I 
here  figure  from  a  photograph  bought  by  me  from  M.  Dumas  at 
Beyrout.     Baedeker's  description    of  it    is    unsufficing   and   too 


»  Pai.  IHlgrims'  Text  See.  1888,  p.  46. 


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i68 


T/ic  A'igki  of  ihe  Gods. 


[Axis 


depreciative.  He  calls  it  "a  ruin,"  though  it  looks  complete 
enough,  and  says 

It  is  a  modem  Ufeiy  [that  is,  a  Moslem  saint's  tomb],  built  of  ancieiit  materials, 
and  adorned  mih  8  finecolunins  of  graniie^over  which  the  builder  has  ig^norantly 
placed  an  architrave*  A  sarcophagus  standing  on  end  was  used  as  a  recess  for 
prayer^  {Pakstine  and  Syria ^  1876,  p.  501). 

I  venture  to  object  to  the  words  *  adorned'  and  *  ignorantly,' 
and  to  the  explanation  of  the  *  sarcophagus/  Dr.  Wallis  Budge 
saw  the  *' little  building'*  last  year  (1890),  he  informs  me.  The 
symbolism  of  the  8  pillars,  and  the  octagonal  form,  are,  for  me, 
unmistakeable  ;  and  although  I  am  unable  to  be  precise  as  to  the 
aspect  of  the  sarcophagus,  the  structure  is  so  typical  and  suggestive 
that  I  have  no  hesitation  In  illustrating  it  now  for  further  attention. 

Ya,  eight,  in  Japanese  mythology  and  ancient  linguistic  usage 
means  also  many  or  numerous  ;  and  the  controversies  on  this 
subject  are  easily  allayed  by  taking  the  universe-al  sense  of  the 
8  points  of  the  compass,  of  the  heavens — the  Chinese  A  jt  ^ 
fang — to  be  the  governing  Initial  sense  in  the  attribution  of  the 
meaning  *  many '  to  ya. 

Thus  "  the  8-forking  road  of  the  heavens  "^  seems  to  he  the 
centre  where  the  cardinal  and  half-cardinal  lines  cross  ;  for  "  tker^ 
was  a  kami  whose  refulgence  reached  upwards  to  the  Plain  of  the 
high-heavens  (tak'ama  no  Hara),  and  downwards  to  the  centre- 
land  of  the  reed-Plain  (ashiHara-no-naka  tsu  kuni;  that  is  Japan, 
which  I  maintain  to  be  here  a  figure  of  the  Earth),  Japan  is  also 
the  great  8-tslands  country,  oho  ya-shima  kuni,  which  is  of  course 
a  figurative  cKpression  answering  to  the  7  dwipas  or  ''insular-con- 
tinents '*  of  the  Hindis. 

The  S-breadths^-crow,  ya-ta-garasu'  {Kojiki,  1 36),  as  a  heavens- 
bird  is  a  black-night  foil  to  the  ya-hiro  (8-breadth^)  white  Chi-bird 
into  which  {ibid,  22 1)  Yamato-dake  changes/   White,  as  I  so  often 

*  Chamberlain^s  Kajiki^  p.  107. 

'  7a  or  /^,  hand^  andj  as  with  as,  a.  measure  ;  hence  here  breadth,  /frra,  broad* 
the  brea*lth  of  the  outstretched  nxm^  and  hands,  a  fathom.  Mr,  Aston  considers  Ya-hifO 
to  mean  "  of  enormous  size  ;  '■  ta  to  be  apan^  and  Air&  fathom,  *  Many  '  is  for  him  tlifi 
original}  and  *  eight  *  the  second aiy>  sense  of  ya. 

»  Mr.  Aston  is  deaUng  with  this  bird  in  his  forthcoming  translation  of  the  Nih^ngit 
which  will  be  a  book  of  the  greatest  importance  in  Japanese  mythologjr. 

*  In  Greek  myth  Kuknos  {  ~  CycnusJ  by  one  account  turns  into  a  swan  wh^n  he  has 
been  killed  by  Achilles.  In  another  legend  Kuknos  has  his  white  haira  changed  10 
feathers  in  old  age,  and  he  becomes  a  sw*an.  In  another  stoiy  Cycnus  plunges  into  the 
sea  and  becomes  a  swan*  On  the  geneial  belief  that  souls  become  birds,  see  the  section 
on  **  Divine  Birds,'* 


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Myths.^  The  Cardinal  Points.  169 


shall  have  here  to  make  good,  is  one  of  the  great  mythic  colours  of 
the  heavens.  The  Chinese  say  that  the  8  fang  are  on  the  back  of 
the  divine  Tortoise* ;  and  these  of  course  correspond  again  to  the 
8  trigrams  of  the  map  on  the  back  of  the  horse  sent  forth  by  the 
Ho  (Yellow)  River;  and  to  the  8  pairs  of  elephants  that  uphold 
the  Hinda  Earth. 

There  are  carved  in  the  centre  of  a  ceiling  at  the  Shintd  temple 
of  Sengen  at  Shidzuoka  a  "  dragon  of  the  eight  quarters,  happ6  no 
rid"  and  another  of  the  four  quarters,  shihd  no  rid.*  Ya-hiro 
wani,  the  8-breadth  crocodile  into  which  the  princess  Toyo-tama 
(plenty-jewels?)  changes  (Kojiki^  127)  and  the  "8-forked  serpent, 
ya-mata  orochi,  of  Koshi,"  who  has  only  one  body  with  8  heads 
and  8  tails,  whose  leng^  extends  over  8  valleys  and  8  hills,  and 
on  whom  grow  forests  {ibid.  61),  belongs  clearly  to  the  same 
imagery,  though  perhaps  to  the  infernal  half  of  it. 
In  that  case,  Koshi,  a  word  which  has  puzzled  the  commentators,  may  be 
equivalent  to  yomi  (darkness)  which  Motowori  said  was  an  underworld,  and  of 
which  yaso  kumade,  80  road-windings,  is  another  alias.  If  Koshi  =  yomi, 
then  the  first  syllable  may  be  the  archaic  "  ko,  dark-coloured,  thick."  In  other 
passages  of  the  Kojiki  (343,  76,  103)  "  the  land  of  Koshi "  is  put  in  apposition 
to  "  the  land  of  8-islands."  (Mr.  Aston  thinks  Koshi  =  "  the  beyonds  ; "  and 
the  verb  koshi,  being  "  to  cross-over,"  may  here  indicate  a  Buddhist  sense,  such 
as  our  "  the  other  shore."  Sanskrit  gata,  cross-over,  is  mimicked  in  Chinese 
Buddhism  as  kitai,  and  in  Japanese  as  giyate.) 

The  "8  gates"  {ibid,  62,64,  iii)  would  be  embraced  in  the 
same  supernal  explanation  ;  and  so  would  the  "  8-fold  heavens- 
clouds  "  and  the  "  8  clouds  and  8-quarters  (or  8-sided)  fence,  ya 
kumo  and  ya-he-gaki ; "  the  fence  being  the  firmament 
I  here  insert  a  suggested  word-for-word  rendering  of  the  much-tried  verse  at 
p.  64  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  Kojiki  : 

Ya  kumo  UUsu,  Eight  clouds  rise  up, 

idsu-mo ya-he-gaki,    the  eight-sided  holy-quarters  fence. 
Tsutna-gomi  ni  As  a  bourn-enclosure 

ya-he-gaki  tsukuru^    the  eight-sided  fence  is  made, 
sono  ya-he-gaki  wo,    that  eight-sided  fence,  O. 

{Idzu  holy ;  mo  face,  direction  ;  the  idzu  mo  are  the  eight  points  ;  tsumoy 
edge,  border,  the  horizon-boundary.  It  has  hitherto  been  considered  that  tsuma 
must  be  understood  as  meaning  wife.  Komi  to  shut-in  ;  he  ^  be  =•  side, 
direction,  quarter.) 

This  verse  is  introduced  by  these  prefatory  words  :  "  So  thereupon  [Take-] 
Haya-Susa  no  Wo  no  Mikoto  sought  in  the  region  of  Idzu-mo  for  a  place  where 
he  might  build  a  palace.    Then  he  arrived  at  the  place  of  Suga    ....    and 

>  G.  Schlegel,  Uranoz.  Chi.  6i,  citing  the  Shih  i  Kt, 
'  Satow  and  Hawes,  Handbooky  2nd  ed.  68. 


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I70  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

in  that  place  he  built  a  palace  to  dwell  in.  So  that  place  is  now  called  Suga. 
When  this  great  deity  first  began  to  build  the  Suga-palace,  clouds  rose  up 
thence.  Then  he  made  a  sacred  hymn.  That  hymn  said  : "  (here  follows  the 
above  verse). 

The  real  derivation  of  Suga  is  unknown,  says  Mr.  Chamberlain.  But  I  suggest 
that  it  here  simply  bears  its  ordinary  meaning  of  a  rush,  and  is  a  parallel  to  the 
Ashi  or  reed  which  gives  its  name  to  Japan  (that  is  the  Earth)  as  the  ashi-hara 
or  reed-plain.  The  Suga-palace,  rush-palace,  is  thus  the  heavens,  which  the 
deity  is  making,  and  suga  and  ashi,  rush  and  reed,  are  both  symbols  of  the 
Axis*  This  deity's  name  means  High- Swift- Impetuous,  which  I  suggest  is  a 
(revolving)  heavens-god's  name  (see  also  p.  224  infra\ 

A  similar  symbolism  must  (see  "  The  Arcana  ")  be  suggested 
for  the  8-meshed  basket  of  the  Idzu-shi  (holy  or  magic  stone)  river- 
island.^  "  She  took  a  one-jointed  bamboo  from  the  river-island  of 
the  river  Idzu-shi,  and  made  a  basket  of  8  meshes."  In  the  one- 
jointed  bamboo  {taie  =  mountain,  and  high,  as  well  as  bamboo)  I 
see  an  axis-symbol  like  the  ashi  and  the  suga. 

Again  in  the  chapter  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  Kojiki  which  tells 
of  the  "  abdication  "  of  the  great  Earth-Master  Oho  Kuni-nushi, 
who  "  disappears  in  the  fence  of  green  branches  "  (that  is,  in  the 
Universe-tree  as  I  suggest),  we  have  a  kami  who  has  been  a  great 
riddle,  the  Master  of  the  8-quarters  (or  8-sided)  Shiro  (area, 
enclosure,  castle)  ya-he-koto  Shiro  nushi,  which  on  my  theory 
would  be  a  name  of  the  heavens-god.  The  "  8-breadth  (hiro)  hall 
without  doors  "  {ibid.  118)  seems  to  be  an  octagonal  heavens-palace 
figfure  of  speech.  The  occasional  prefix  Tsumi-ba  to  Shiro-nushi's 
name,  may  then  mean  "heaped-up  things  "*=  the  material  universe 
{ibid.  loi,  82)  ;  and  Kushi-ya-tama  becomes  an  alias  of  his,  as 
being  Wondrous-8-jewel  (or  ball).  Kushi  ya  tama  is  the  grandson 
of  a  Japanese  Poseidon,  the  kami  of  the  Water-gates,  Minato 
{ibid.  104).  The  "8-saka  curved  jewel"  {ibid.  108,  55,46)  seems 
also  a  figure  of  the  hollow  heavens ;  and  this  ya-saka  no  maga 
tama  may  also  be  interpreted  "  8-mountained  curved  sphere."  The 
kami  Tama  no  ya  {ibid.  55)  seems  to  be  merely  another  form  of 
Ya-tama.  Futo-tama  (if  futo  be  here  =  great,  sacred)  would  appear 
to  be  another  alias  {ibid.  56,  108).  The  ya  ta  kagami  then 
becomes,  as  Motowori  said,  an  octangular  mirror  {i.e.  the  heavens) 
and  Moribe's  exposition  also  holds  good  about  the  mirror  having 
an  8-fold  pattern  round  its  border  {ibid*  56).*     I  think  too  that  the 

^  Kojiki^  263.  *  Or  beginning  and  end,  tsuma-ha? 

*  Mr.  Aston  says  on  this  that  a  passage  in  the  Nihongi  (reign  of  Jing6)  speaks  of  a 
J^  ^  mirror,  that  is  a  mirror  with  seven  little  ones.     Where  the  older  Japanese  legends 


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The  Cardinal  Points. 


171 


ya  hiro  hoko  (Kojiki^  2 10)  should  be  rendered  8-breadth  ue.  octagonal 
spear,  and  that  it  may  mean  the  Axis. 

The  yatsu-fuji,  or  8-fold  wistaria  of  the  hereditary  high-priests, 
then  easily  follows  ;  and  so  does  ya  hata,  eight  standards,  as  a  title 
of  the  war-god  Hachiman ;  and  the  octagonal  mountain  Fudaraku 
(P6tala  ?)  the  favourite  resort  of  Kwannon,  and  her  octagonal 
temple  at  Nara,  with  her  statue  on  the  North  side.*  All  these  last 
are  Buddhist  assimilations. 

The  Eight  Japanese  gods  of  heavens-mountains  {ibid.  33,  31) 
then  disclose  themselves  as  cardinal  and  half-cardinal  gods  of  the 
heavens-mountain  ;  and  the  number  of  the  "  eight  gods  who  were 
supposed  to  be  in  a  special  sense  the  protectors  of  the  Mikado  " 
thus  seems  to  be  explained.*    And  we  also  have  {ibid.  261)  the 

8  kamis  or  the  8-fold  kami  of  Idzushi  (=  magic-stone ;  query  the 
magnet }).  Of  course  the  8  gods  (sh^n)  A  jp^^  are  also  Chinese, 
and  there  are  the  8  Immortals,  sien  j[Jj,  of  the  Taoists. 

All  this  seems  fully  to  illustrate  the  manner  in  which  the 
cosmic  (but  artificial)  eight  came  to  represent  the  Cosmos,  and 
thus  to  show  why  ya  got  to  mean  "  many,  numerous,  all."  But 
this  can  be  proved  much  more  thoroughly. 

Just  as  the  Roman  plotting-out  and  mensuration  of  land  was 
taken  (see  "  The  North  ")  from  their  augural  delimitation  of  the 
holy  templum,  so  the  Chinese  carried  their  sacred  cosmic  divisions 
into  their  Land  Acts  and  the  divinations  of  their  fengshui.  The 
cultivated  land  was  in  squares  of  900  mdn  ( 1 36 
acres)  called  a  tzing,  which  was  subdivided  into 

9  parts  thus : 

The  8  exterior  squares  of  100  m4n  (15 
acres)  each  were  cultivated  by  the  holders  for 
their  own  behoof,  but  the  central  plot  was  Shang 
Ti's,  that  is  "God's-acre" ;  and  its  produce  went 
in  sacrifices  to  the  Supreme   Ruler   Shang  Ti,   although   it  was 

have  'eigbt,'  the  modem  stories  have  sometimes  'seven.'  Ideal  with  7+1=8  under 
Eshmiin  in  **  The  Kabeiroi." 

*  On  the  North  side  of  the  Buddhist  Nan-yen-d6  (south-round -hall)  at  Nara  in  Japi^n 
is  a  colossal  sitting  Kwannon,  the  Amogba-pasa  Aval6kit£shvara.  This  '*  round  "  hall 
is  really  octagonal,  in  imitation  of  the  fabulous  mountain  Fudaraku  (P6tala)  the  favourite 
resort  of  Kwannon.  On  the  South  side  is  a  colossal  thousand-handed  Kwannon.  At 
Koya-san  is  an  octagonal  building,  the  Bones-hall,  Kctsu-d6,  which  ri«es  over  a  deep  pit 
into  which  the  teeth  and  '*Adam*s  apple''  of  the  cremated  are  thrown  {Handbook  of 
/apoftf  389,  415).  *  Trans,  A.  S.  J.  vii,  123  (Mr.  Satow). 


I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

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172  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [/Ixis 


generally  called  the  Emperor's  field.  It  was  cultivated  by  the 
whole  community  of  the  holders  of  the  8  squares.^  Now  here  we 
have  the  8  fang  lying  round  the  centre,  where  the  Universe-god 
abides,  and  we  see  at  once  how  (8  -h  i  =)  9  ^  C^^u)  came  to 
mean  a  "collection,  many,  all"  in  Chinese.  And  as  everything 
earthly  has  its  celestial  counterpart,  the  heavens  are  similarly 
divided  into  the  9  heavens,  kiu  T'ien,  ^  ^.  or  9  fields  (of  the 
heavens),  kiu  yeh  %  J^,  of  which  Hwainan-tsze  speaks;  the 
central  space  being  called  kun  T*ien  ^  ^,  and  the  diagram  being 
circular  instead  of  square.* 

But  to  go  back  to  the  first  verse,  as  it  were,  of  the  Chinese 
philosophical  Genesis  in  the  Yi  King :  "The  Great  Extreme  (Tai 
Ki)  engenders  the  two  I  (laws)  Yin  and  Yang  ;  these  two  principles 
engender  the  four  siang  (forms)  ;  the  four  forms  produce  the  8  kwa 
^,"*  which  shows  that  the  number  Eight  embraces  everything 
except  the  One,  Shang  Ti  (or  Tai  Ki).  And  thus  pa,  eight,  in 
Chinese  means  the  whole  ;  the  8  grains  are  all  kinds  of  grain, 
the  8  sounds  are  all  the  possible  notes  of  music.  And  the  Chinese 
pa  is  the  Japanese  ya. 

Mr.  Aston  informs  me  that  there  is  a  similar  correspondence  in  Corean 
between  y^l  ten  and  yoro  niany.  And  this  leads  me  to  mention  one  of  the 
most  puzzling  connexions  between  ten  and  nine  that  I  have  ever  met  with.  It 
is  in  an  old  Irish  charm  given  in  one  of  Lady  Wilde's  delightful  books  :* 
"  Catch  a  crowing  hen  and  kill  her  ;  and  take  ten  straws  and  throw  the  tenth 
away,  and  stir  her  blood  with  the  rest,"  that  is  with  the  remaining  nine.  I  leave 
this  to  the  pondering  of  many  readers  ;  but  it  suggests  tithes,  somehow— just 
the  idea  we  have  above  in  the  central  square  of  the  Chinese  terrier.  And  it  is 
quite  opposed  to  the  notion  of  nine's  holiness  coming  from  three  threes. 

The  King  of  Siam  at  his  coronation  sits  on  an  octagonal 
throne,  and  changing  his  seat  8  times,  to  face  the  8  points  of  the 
compass,  repeats  each  time  the  formula  called  the  coronation  oath  ; 
8  stonets  are  sanctified  and  placed  at  the  same  points  round  the 
holy  of  holies  of  a  Siamese  Buddhist  temple.* 

In  the  Persian  RauzcU-us-Safa^  NCih  and  his  followers  amount  to  80  souls 
when  they  enter  the  Ark.  When  they  come  out,  they  "  build  a  village  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,"  and  call  it  the  "  Forum-of-80."  Other  accounts  say  8, 
but  80  is  the  most  correct  opinion.  This  is  an  indication  of  the  cosmic 
figurativeness  of  this  Ark,  which  is  still  further  confirmed  by  another  passage 

*  Legge*s  Lt  Kt,  i,  228,  255,  210.  '  Mayers,  Manual,  p.  J46e 

*  G.  Schlegel,  Uranog,  Chi,  246.     All  this  will  be  fully  expounded  later  on. 

*  AncUnt  Cures,  Charms,  and  Usages  of  Ireland,  1890,  p.  151. 
»  Alabaster's  Wheel  of  the  Law,  •  Pp.  83,  85,  89,  181. 


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Myths  J]  The  Cardinal  Points.  x73 

saying  that  "  the  Almighty  fixed  two  luminous  discs,  one  like  the  sun  and  the 
other  like  the  moon,  on  the  wall  of  the  Ark  (read  the  firmament  of  the  heavens) 
and  thus  the  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  and  of  prayers,  were  ascertained. 
Ebrahim  was  circumcised  with  a  (stone)  hatchet  when  he  was  80  years  old. 
(Remember  the  8th  day  of  this  ritual). 

The  jewel  Syamantaka,  which  Vishnu  wears  on  his  wrist,  daily  produces 
8  loads  of  gold,*  which  gives  us  a  doublet  of  the  Norse  Draupnir  ring.  The 
&bulous  Sarabha  animal,  which  abides  in  the  Himdlayas,  and  is  also  called  the 
Utpddaka  and  the  Kunjaririti,  has  8  legs,  and  in  that  pairs  off  with  Sleipnir 
the  8-legged  horse  of  Odinn.  (Refer  back  to  the  Japanese  octuple  or  octagonal 
animab  above,  p.  169.) 

Clemens  of  Alexandria  gave  the  8  "  great  demons  "  as  Apollo, 
Artemis,  L^to,  D^met^r,  Kor^,  Ploutdn,  H^rakWs,  and  Zeus 
himself.* 


THE  NUMBER  TWEL  VE.  We  may  also  trace  the  pro- 
gress from  8.  to  the  zodiacal  12,  as  thus.  The  dancing-hall 
(sim^-kh^a)  of  the  Mevlevt  dervishes  is  circular,  and  ought  to 
contain  8  wooden  columns.  This,  says  the  sheikh  of  Nikosia, 
is  not  always  the  case;  but  see  what  is  said  elsewhere  of  their 
"annexing"  the  octagonal  tower  of  the  winds  at  Athens.  The 
Rufdi  dervishes  have  8  "  gores  "  or  triangles  (terks)  in  their  white 
cloth  t^j  (dome)  or  cap.  The  sheikh's  t^j  has  (8  +  4  =)  12  terks, 
which  represent  the  12  tartgAt  or  Paths.  4  of  these  12  terks  are 
called  doors,  kapu. 

In  the  square  halls  of  the  Bektdshl  dervishes  is  a  stone  with  8 
angles,  called  the  maiden  t^hi,  in  which  at  ceremonies  stands  a 
lighted  candle.  All  round  are  (8  +  4  =)  12  seats, /(7j/j  ox postakts^ 
of  white  sheep-skin.  The  founder  Haji  BektAsh  called  the  candle- 
socket  the  Eye.  The  number  12  is  in  remembrance  of  the  12 
im^ms,  say  the  Bektishi  and  the  Rufdf,  whence  it  is  obvious  that 
the  imdms  must  have  to  do  with  the  4  plus  8  points  of  the  heavens. 
This  would  explain  the  mystic  significance  of  the  number  12 
among  the  BektAsh!,  who  swear  by  it,  and  even  **  pay  money  in 
twelves,"  whatever  that  may  precisely  mean.  Perhaps  it  means 
counting  by  dozens.  Their  ordinal  of  initiation  mentions  the  12 
who  know  the  4  columns  and  the  4  doors.  (As  to  12-angled  stones 
of  dervishes,  see  p.  128.)  Of  course  all  the  im^ms  have  human 
names,  but  the  twelfth  is  Mehd!,  who  mysteriously  disappeared  at 
Semara  (Sam*l  was  the  heavens-goddess)  and  will  there  reappear 

*  Wilson's  Vishnu  Pur^na^  p.  425 ;  Dowson's  DicU      '  Exhort,  to'HtlUtia^  ch.  2. 


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174 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


\Axis 


from  a  cave,  and  become  the  saviour  of  mankind— a  central 
supernal  legend  which  has  given  so  many  false  "  Mahdis  '*  to  the 
Moslem  world.  All  the  12  are  sons  (or  descendants)  of  Ali — ^that 
is  to  say,  of  Allah,  61  or  ll — whose  2  sons  Hasan  and  Husfin  are 
the  Two  Eyes.^  There  are  reckoned  12  original  orders  of  Dervishes. 
A  local  Srahmantin  (=  tall-spirit)  on  the  Gold  Coast  has  12 
heads.*  All  the  Tshi-speaking  tribes  of  this  coast  are  descended 
from  12  totem-families,  4  of  which  (Leopard,  Civet-cat,  Buffalo,  and 
Dog)  are  the  oldest  stock,  from  which  the  other  8  are  off-shoots. 
Compare  the  4  Living  Creatures  infra. 

There  were  12  peoples,  populi,  of  Etruscans.*  The  12  Tables 
were  the  reverend  source  of  the  Roman  Law  ;  but  it  is  worthy  of 
note  that  the  Athenian  'AttootoXcZ^  were  only  10  in  number.* 

The  Rev.  Dr.  E.-  G.  King,  D.D.,*  shows  that  the  12  sons  of 
Jacob  alias  IsraEl,  who  fathered  the  12  tribes,  are  =  4  -|-  8  in 
each  of  the  three  lists,  as  follows  : 

Geiu  XXXV.  Gen,  xxix  and  xxx.  Gen,  xlix. 

Reuben  Reuben  Reuben 

Simeon  Simeon  Simeon 

Levi  Levi  Levi 

Judah  Judah  Judah 


Issachar 

Dan 

Zebulun 

Zebulun 

Naphtali 

Issachar 

Joseph 

Gad 

Dan 

Benjamin 

Asher 

Gad 

Dan 

Issachar 

Asher 

Naphtali 

Zebulun 

Naphtali 

Gad 

Dinah 

Joseph 

Asher 

Joseph 

Benjamin. 

"  The  first  4  names  are  the  same  in  each  list,  and  belong  to  a  Jehovist  record. 
The  children  of  the  concubines  form  a  second  group  of  4."  Dr.  King  further 
says  that  Genesis  xxxii,  28  should  be  rendered  as  follows  :  "  Thy  name  shall  be 
no  more  Jacob  but  IsraEl,  for  thou  hast  had  power  (x^zritha)  with  the  Elohim  (/>. 
with  the  angel-host ;  Akkadian  sar\  and  with  men  thou  shalt  prevail."  That 
Elohtm  here  denotes  the  angel-host  is  evident  from  Hosea  xii,  4,  5  :  "he  had 
power  {sar^)  with  Elohtm  ;  yea,  he  had  power  (ya^ar)  over  the  angel,  and 
prevailed."  Dr.  King  concludes  that  Jacob  wrestled  with  the  Babylonian  Sar£ll, 
a  personification  of  the  legions  or  hosts  of  heaven  ;  and  having  conquered  him, 
takes  the  name  of  his  opponent,  whose  strength  thus  then  passes  into  him. 
Thus  does  Jacob  become  E-sar-£l. 

*  Mr.  J.  P.  Brown*8  The  Dervishes  (passim.  Revised  for  me  by  the  Mevlevl  sheikh 
of  Nikosia).  *  Major  Ellis*s  Tshi-speaking  Peoples,  22,  207. 

'  Festus,  s.  V.  Tagcs.      *  Bckker,  Anecd.  i,  203.      •  Akkadian  Genesis  (1888)  p.  13. 


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MyihsJ]  Th$  Cardinal  Points,  i75 

Joseph's  dream  {Genesis  xxxvii,  9),  which  is  also  in  the  Persian  legends,' 
does  actiially  identify  his  1 1  brothers  with  1 1  stars.  This  is  also  in  the  Kordn 
(ch.  xii).  They  also,  as  Jacob-IsraEl  commands,  enter  into  the  city  by  different 
gates,'  which,  unless  a  celestial  zodiacal  allusion,  is  apparently  meaningless 
They  sit,  with  Joseph,  2  at  each  table,  which  indicates  the  6  X  2  =  12  which 
we  so  often  meet  with.*    They  are  also  lodged  2  and  2  in  a  house.' 

The  Jews,  and  the  Persian  Moslem  legends  also,  say  that  when  Moses 
struck  the  sea  with  his  rod,  it  divided  into  12  lanes,  according  to  the  number  of 
the  tribes,  "having  between  them  walls  of  water  standing  out  in  the  air  like  12 
vaults.  On  account  of  the  transparency  of  the  partitions,  the  tribes  were  able  to 
see  each  other."*  This  also  is  senseless  unless  when  understood  of  the 
Universe-ocean  and  the  zodiacal  divisions,  and  the  paths  to  those  im  gates  of 
heaven.  The  12  large  brooks  that  issue  from  the  rock  struck  by  Moses,  one  for 
each  tribe,  are  also  heavens-rivers. 

IshmaEl  has  also  12  prince-sons  {Gen.  xvii,  20)  as  well  as  IsraEl,  and  the 
Hebrew  Intelligences  of  the  12  zodiacal  signs  are  nothing  whatever  but  12 
Els.     Beginning  with  Aries  these  are  : 

1.  MalchidaEl  5.  VerchiEl  9.  AduachiEl 

2.  AsmodiEl  6.  HamaliEl  10.  HanaEl 

3.  AmbriEl  7.  ZuriEl  11.  GambiEl 

4.  MuriEl  8.  ZarachiEl  12.  BarchiEl. 

I  now  again  direct  the  reader's  attention  to  the  theory  that  the  Eloah  was  the 
stone  idol  of  the  fel  the  stone-god  (pp.  116,  196).     Each  of  the  28  houses  of  the 
moon  has  also  its  El ;  but  these  do  not  concern  us  here,  except  as  accentuating 
the  general  conclusion  that  the  whole  Hebrew  angelic  and  arch-angelic  host  of 
the  heavens  are  Els,  every  one  of  them. 
We  have  besides,  among  other  twelves  : 
12  princes  of  Isra^/  (Num,  i,  44). 
12  years'  service  of  the  king  of -fi'/am  (Gen,  xiv,  4). 
12  wells  (and  70  palmtrees)  at  Ehva  {Ex,  xv,  27), 

12  pillars  (and  an  altar)  for  12  tribes.     (Manifestly  celestial,  for  there  is  El 
standing  on  work  of  bright  sapphire,  as  it  were  the  clear  heavens. 
Ex,  xxiv,  4,  10.) 
12  stones  taken  by  12  men  for  12  tribes,  out  of  middle  of  Yardain  (Jordan, 

the  heavens-river.    Joshua  iv). 
12  stones  to  make  an  altar  (i  Kings  xviii,  31). 
12  (4  X  3)  precious  stones  for  12  tribes  {Ex,  xxviii,  21  ;  xxxix,  14). 
12  (2  X  6)  cakes,  as  offerings  to  Jehovah  {Lev,  xxiv,  5). 
12  (6  X  2)  oxen,  one  for  each  prince  {Num,  vii,  3). 

12  silver  chargers,  12  bowls,  i?  spoons,  12  bullocks,  rams,  lambs,  and  goats  ; 
2  X  12  bullocks,  5  X  12  rams,  goats,  and  lambs  (for  dedication  of 
altar,  Num,  vii,  84,  xxix,  17). 
12  rods  for  the  princes  of  Isra^/  and  their  fathers'  houses  {Num.  xvii,  2). 
12  brazen  bulls  and  2  pillars  in  the  house  of  Jehovah  {Jer.  lii). 
12  cubits  by  12,  size  of  altar-hearth  {Ezek,  xliv,  16). 

*  Rauiot-uS'Safa,  200.  *  Kordn  ch.  xii,  R-us-S^  26^^  265. 

•  Sale's  Kordn,  p.  195.  <  R-us-S,  337,  369 ;  Sale,  p.  259. 


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176  The  Night  of  the  Gods.   .  [Axis 

12  thrones  of  12  judges  {Matt,  xix,  28  ;  Lu,  xxii,  30). 

12  stars,  crown  of,  on  pregnant  heavens-goddess  {Rev.  xii,  2). 

12  (4  X  3)  gates  made  of  12  pearls,  and  having  12  angels  (of  heavens- 
city,  which  has  12  foundations.    Rev.  xxi,  12,  21). 

12  crops  or  kinds  of  fruit  on  Universe-tree  of  life  {Rev.  xxii,  2). 
The  zodiacal  heavenly  significance  of  all  this,  when  it  is  taken 
together,  seems  indisputable.  There  does  seem  to  be  an  actual 
mention  of  the  "12  signs"  in  ii  Kings  xxiii,  5  (Revised  Version) 
where  the  kings  of  Judah  appointed  Chemartm  to  bum  incense  to 
them  (or  to  the  planets).  The  Athenian  altar  to  the  12  gods  was 
in  the  Affora^  (see  p.  155).  The  12  peers  of  Charlemagne  and  of 
France  were  12  equals  of  the  Round  Table. 

Sir  George  Birdwood,*  citing  Josephus,'  makes  the  breast-plate  of  Aaron 
{Exod.  xxviii)  a  square  zodiacal  palladium,  and  compares  it  to  the  HindCi  and 
Buddhist  talismanic  amulet  called  the  nava-ratna  or  nao-ratan  (nine-gems). 
The  breast-plate  had  12  zodiacal  precious  stones  ;  and  the  shoulder-ouches 
which  held  it  bore  the  12  zodiacal  names  of  the  12  children  of  IsraEl. 

Before  the  consecration  of  a  church  12  crosses  are,  in  the 
Gallican  ritual,  painted  round  the  new  building,  on  the  pillars  or, 
at  equal  distances,  on  the  walls;  and  opposite  these  the  bishop, 
when  he  arrives,  causes  12  wax  candles  to  be  lit  These  are  still 
expounded  as  signifying  the  12  foundations  of  the  walls  of  the 
heavens-Jerusalem,  on  which  walls  were  the  12  names  of  the  12 
apostles  of  the  lamb  {Rev.  xxi,  14).*  There  could  scarcely  be  a 
clearer  reference  to  the  firmament  of  the  heavens  and  its  12 
zodiacal  constellations.  Of  course  the  12  (?)  apostles  afford  a  new 
point  of  departure. 

One  of  Goethe's  far-reaching  remarks  was  that  as  a  subject  for 
art  The  Twelve  Apostles  all  look  too  much  like  each  other.*  That 
fits  them,  at  all  events,  for  the  no-one-knows-how-old  Apostle- 
spoons,  and  is  a  result  of  their  ranked  duties  round  the  zodiac. 
The  number  1 2,  like  7,  is  still  everywhere  in  the  East  talismanic, 
says  Sir  G.  Birdwood,*  and  always  refers  to  the  signs  of  the  zodiac, 
which  are  the  12  fruits  of  the  Universe  Tree  of  Life.  And 
Stukeley  (see  "  The  Winged  Sphere  "  in  Vol.  2)  pointed  out  long 
ago  that  Joshua  pitched  his  12  stones  at  Gilgal,  that  is  in  the 
round  form  of  a  wheel,  which  gilgal  means  (or  else  rotating.  In  . 
either  case  the  indication  is  Cosmic),     We  shall  also  see  the  12 

1  Thucyd.  vi,  54.  '  Soc  of  Arts  Jmmal^  18  Mar.  1887. 

•  Antiq.  cfjewsy  iii,  vii,  5,  6,  7.  ^  Montpellier  Catfchisme,  iii,  263,  271. 

*  Conversations  with  £^kermann,  16  Mar.  1830,  •  Ut  supra. 


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Myths,']  The  Cardinal  Points.  m 

nidanas  of  the  Buddhist  "  Wheel  of  the  Law "  in  the  section  on 
that  subject ;  and  the  twice  12  tirthankaras  of  the  Jains. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  giyatrt  HindCi  archaic  hymn 
was  of  8  syllables  or  verses.  It  "was  brought  up  to  12  by  repeti- 
tions of  the  first  and  last  verses."^  Another,  an  Egyptian,  instance 
of  the  formation  of  12  from  8  has  been  given  above,  at  p.  158. 

There  are  8  sons  of  Aditi  (Space,  the  mother  of  the  gods  ?)  who  were 
bom  from  her  body.  With  Seven  she  went  to  the  gods,  but  M^rttinda  she 
cost  off*-  These  7  were  the  Adityas,  who  "in  early  Vedic  times  were  but 
stx^  or  more  frequently  7,"*  of  whom  Varuna  was  ehief,  and  consequently  /A^ 
Aditya.  The  other  five  (of  the  six)  were  Mitra,  Aryaman,  Bhaga,  Ansa  and 
Daksha.  The  last  is  frequently  excluded,  and  Indra,  Savitri  and  DhAtri  are 
added,  which  makes  up  7.  "  They  are  neither  sun  nor  moon  nor  stars  nor 
dawn,  but  the  eternal  sustaiAers  of  this  luminous  life,  which  exists  as  it  were 
behind  all  these  phenomena"  (Prof.  Roth).  In  later  times  the  number  was 
increased  to  (the  zodiacal)  twelve.  There  were  three  kinds  of  gods,  says  the 
SatapathorBrdhmana^  the  Vasus,  the  Rudras,  and  the  Adityas. 

The  following  notes  on  celestial  numbers  in  the  Odyssey  come 
in  conveniently  here  :— 

Scylla  had  12  feet  all  dangling  dowh,  and  6  necks  exceeding  long,  and  on 
each  neck  a  hideous  head,  Wherein  were  3  rows  of  teeth  (Odyss.  xii,  89).  12 
choice  bulls  are  a  sacrifice  to  Poseidon  (xiii,  180).  Telemachos  takes  12  jars  of 
wine  with  him — a  dozen  in  short  (ii,  353).  Odusseus  has  12  styes  with  50  pigs 
in  each  =  360,  as  is  actually  calculated  out  {Odyss,  xiv,  20),  and  they  are 
g^uarded  by  4  dogs.  The  puzzling  axes  of  Odusseus  {Odyss,  xix,  580  aftd  else- 
where) are  i2,  and  he  shoots  his  arrow  through  them  all.  12  women  work  at 
his  handmills  (xx,  108) ;  and  I2  out  of  his  50  women-servants  are  unfaithful  with 
the  wooers  of  Penelope  (^ii,  426);  Odusseus  meets  IphiTos (Strong-One?) who 
is  in  search  of  his  12  broOd  mares  each  with  a  mule-foal  (xxi,  22) ;  12  cloaks  of 
single  fold,  12  coverlets,  12  mantles  and  doublets,  and  4  women  skilled  in  Work 
are  gifts  in  Odyss,  xxiv,  276. 

The  sevens  are  comparatively  few  (so  far  as  1  have  detected  them)  in  the 
Odyssey.  £elios,  'HeXioc^  has  7  herds  of  kine  and  7  of  sheep,  and  50  in  each 
flock  (xii,  129).  Mar6n  son  of  EuanTh^s  gives  Odusseus  7  gold  talents  and  a 
bowl  of  pure  silver,  and  12  jars  of  wine,  each  cup  of  which  took  20  measures  of 
water  (and  as  it  was  red  and  honey-sweet,  we  may  take  it  that's  the  classic  way 
to  drink  Commanderfa).  The  same  or  a  similar  gift  is  mentioned  at  xxiv,  274 
as  7  talents,  a  silver  bowl  (with  the  12  cloaks  &c.  as  just  above).  If  the  bowl 
be  the  heavens,  the  7  talents  ought  to  be^  originally,  Ursa  Major.  But  in  view 
of  the  paucity  of  sevens,  and  the  glut  of  other  chronological  numbers  (108,  52, 
50,  24,  20,  12,  10,  6,  4),  it  would  seem  that  Odusseus  was  a  zodiacal  rather  than 
a  polar  power.     (There  are  some  puzzling  nines  too.) 

And  still  it  is  odd  that  both  SisuPhos  the  real  and  Laertes  the  putative 
fether  of  Odusseus  are  Stone-gods.     SisuPhos  rolls  one  eternally,  and  Xats  = 

"  Eggeling*s  Satap.  Brdhm,  313,  400,  402,  131.  *  ^igV-  x,  72,  8, 

•  Dowson*s  Diet,    The  sentence  is  inexplanatory.  *  Eggeling's,  ii,  350, 

M 


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i?^  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

stones.  The  mother  of  Odusseus  too  was  AntiKleia,  which  indicates  a  keystone- 
of-heaven  goddess.  One  version  made  her  daughter  of  DioKl^s  (one  of  the  Four 
of  D^M^t^r) ;  another  said  she  was  daughter  to  AutoLukos,  a  wolf-god  (or  light- 
god  ?),  who  had  a  magic  helmet,  was  an  argonaut  and  a  great  athlete,  and  taught 
H^raK16s  (AtLas's  understudy)  to  drive  the  chariot  (of  the  universe).  Auto- 
Lukos  was  also  a  Proteus  (or  First-god)  in  his  form-changing,  and  ^<t  foot- 
prints of  cattle  figure  greatly  in  his  myths.  He  was  either  son  of  Hermds  (or 
of  Phrixos)  and  Chalkiop^. 

We  shall  have  the  zodiacal  12  bucklers  of  the  Roman  Salii  later  on,  and 
also  the  buckler  of  Abas  12th  tyrant  of  Argos  j  and  the  12  Chinese  bells  of 
Hwang-Ti  (in  "  The  Number  Seven  ").  Under  "  The  Labyrinth  "  we  shall  have 
its  12  halls  and  the  12  compartments  of  the  Egyptian  underworld  compared 
with  the  12  southern  Chaldean  constellations  of  the  dead. 

Ptolemy  said  the  alternate  zodiacal  signs  Aries,  Gemini,  Leo,  Libra, 
Sagittarius  and  Aquarius  were  masculine,  and  the  remainder  feminine,  "  as  the 
day  is  followed  by  the  night,  and  as  the  male  is  coupled  with  the  female."  Here 
we  have  duality,  and  an  indication  that  12  here  ^6x2. 

The  Shu-king>  makes  the  primeval  fabulous  divine  emperor  Shun  sacrifice 
to  Shang-Ti  in  the  usual  forms,  and  respectfully  and  purely  to  the  Six  honoured- 
ones  "rs  ^  the  Liu-Tsung,  and  to  mountains,  rivers,  and  spirits.  6  is  half  12, 
and  this  is  the  earliest  form,  perhaps,  of  the  12  zodiacal  signs.  The  Chinese 
hour  is  double  ours,  so  that  day  and  night  have  each  but  6  hours.  This 
seems  to  have  been  Roman  too,  see  the  section  on  "Numa  Pompilius  "  in  VoL  2. 
All  the  native  and  Western  inconsistent  endeavours  to  identify  these  Six  Tsung 
are  shots,  and  misses  at  that  It  seems  to  me  that  they  must  be  the  same  as  the 
Liu  Ho  /^  ^  or  6  directions,  a  term  which  also  applies  to  the  6  pairs  of  the 
12  cyclical  signs.*  This  term  Liu  Ho  also  means  the  Universe,  that  is  Heavens- 
and-Earth,  being  the  6  great  points  of  (i)  Above  and  (6)  Below,  with  (2)  North, 
(3)  South,  (4)  East,  and  (5)  West  In  these  I  should  be  inclined  to  see  the  N. 
and  S.  poles  and  4  points  of  the  year's-round,  marked  by  the  longest  and  shortest 
days,  and  the  equal  day  and  night  These  6  directions  are  elaborately  wor- 
shipped in  Buddhism  also.' 

We  have  precisely  the  same  idea  as  above  and  on  p.  184  (of 
taking  the  North  pole  as  the  stand-point  for  the  plotting-out  of 
the  4  directions),  although  somewhat  confused,  in  the  Ethiopian 
Book  of  Enoch, -^  "Thence  did  I  advance  on  towards  tlie  North, 
to  the  extremities  of  the  Earth  ;  and  there  I  saw  a  great  and 
glorious  wonder  at  the  extremities  of  the  whole  Earth.  I  saw 
there  heavenly  gates  opening  into  the  heavens:  3  of  them  dis- 
tinctly separated.  Thence  went  I  to  the  extremities  of  the  world 
Westwards,  where  I  perceived  3  gates  open,  as  I  had  seen  in  the 
North.     Then  I  proceeded  "  and  so  forth  (killing  valueless  time,  in 

*  Lcgge,  ii,  I,  4.  *  Mayers,  Manual,  pp.  322,  329,  351. 

'  See  the  Sig&lowida  sutra  and  Rbys  Davids*s  Buddhism^  pp.  143  to  147. 
^  Laurence's  translation,  xxxiii  to  xxxv,  Ixxiv,  Ixxv. 


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Myths ^  The  Cardinal  Points.  179 

Eastern  fashion,  by  endless  repetitions)  to  the  South  and  East 
where  the  same  number  of  gates  are  found ;  and  the  total 
(4  X  3  =  12)  is  of  course  zodiacal.  Plato  called  the  12  signs  the 
gates  of  heaven. 

It  is  very  strange  that  in  Egypt  also  there  were  "  The  Six,*  the  hieroglyphic 

of  which  — —  '  is  identical  with  that  one  of  the  8  Chinese  kwa  which 

belongs  to  the  North  (see  p.  96).  In  the  5th  dynasty  Asesra  was  **  master  of  the 
secret  (her  sesheta)  of  the  mystic  words  of  the  grand  abode  of  the  Six."  In  the 
6th  dynasty  Ouna  boasts  of  having  the  entree  to  "  the  abode  of  the  Six.**  In  the 
13th,  Eimeri  was  **  chief  of  the  grand  abode  of  the  Six  of  Neverkara."  There 
was  a  feast  of  the  Six,  which  was  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  month.  No  one 
seems  to  know  anything  more  as  to  who  these  six  were.*     The  unidentified 

town  I  I  I  Hebensas  ?  seems  to  be  connected  with  this  worship.    (See  the 

six-staged  pyramid  under  "  The  North.") 


The  Twelve  AmphiKtuones  (or  -Ktiones),  who  represented  12 
tribes  of  the  Greeks,  give  us  a  notable  parallel  to  the  Jewish  12. 
Their  name  may  mean,  as  it  is  generally  taken  to  do,  merely 
"dwellers  around,"  in  which  case  it  would  sufficiently  apply  to  the 
zodiacal  constellations ;  or  might  it  not  mean  "  dual-supporters," 
possessors  or  holders  (/crecu  ;  iCT^i/09  beast  of  burden — still  in  use 
in  Cyprus)  ;  amphi  indicating  duality  as  well  as  the  round  about 
idea. 

The  extremely  remote  antiquity  of  the  Greek  religious  sanhedrims  so-called 
places  them  in  a  similar  category  to  the  equally  zodiacal  Salii  or  the  Arvalian 
Brothers  of  Rome  (see  both  those  headings).  There  was  one  such  avyddpioy  at 
D6I0S  (as  to  which  typical  cosmic  island,  see  p.  31)  said  to  have  been  founded 
by  fJke  god  Theseus  ;  from  the  most  ancient  times  the  lonians  of  the  Cydades 
(Kuklades) — the  cycling  or  turning  islands — assembled  there  to  celebrate  the 
feast  of  Apolla  The  similar  sacred  colleges  of  Argos  and  Delphoi  met  in 
the  temples  of  Apollo  ;  those  of  Onchestos,  Kalauria  and  Samikon  met  in  the 
temples  of  Poseid6n  ;  that  of  Amarynthos  in  the  temple  of  Artemis  ;  and  the 
college  of  ThermoPyke  near  the  sanctuary  of  D^Mfitfir,  who  was  also  called 
Amphi  Ktuonis. 

This  last  assembly  became  of  course  the  most  notorious,  and 
its  12  tribes  are,  as  is  well  known,  almost  as  difficult  though  not  so 
mythical  as  the  12  tribes  of  IsraEL  (See  also  the  12  sons  of 
Ndleus,  under  **  The  Dokana.")  The  double  votes  in  this  assembly 
(like  the  qualifier  amphi-)  speak  to  me  here  of  divine  duality. 

Its  members  were  of  two  categories  :     the  hieromndmones  or  sacred- 
remembrancers,  and  the  pulagorai,  formed  of  irvkfj  a  gate  (which  must  be  the 
»  Pierret,  DuL  515  ;  FiKod,  545,  593,  464. 

M   2 


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i8o  The  Might  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

Same  as  plla  pillar  and  pTlum  shaft)  with  dyop^  a  term  fully  dealt-with  elsewhere. 
These  last  were  also  called  agora-troi,  which  may  mean  no  more  than  the  three 
of  the  agora,  as  three  pulagoroi  (among  whom,  in  his  time,  iCschines  the  orator,* 
circa  350  B.c.)'were  sent  from  Athens.  The  secretary  of  the  Amphiktiones  was 
called  the  hierok^rux  or  sacred  herald. 

The  money  struck  by  them  had  the  omphalos  of  Delphoi  on 
One  side,  with  the  serpent  coiled  round  it,  and  Apollo  seated 
thereon,  holding  in  his  left  a  laurel-bough.  It  will  be  seen  that  all 
the  symbolism  and  nomination  here  is  centro-cosmic. 

The  duties  of  the  Amphiktions  were  purely  pontifical,  though 
not  apparently  sacerdotal.  They  made  the  ritual  for  the  festivals 
of  Apollo,  and  for  sacrifices  ;  they  proclaimed  "  the  truce  of  God  " 
—still  piously  believed  to  have  been  (as  the  treuga  Dei)  of  Christian 
and  papal  inception.  I  suppose  their  founding  of  the  f^ythian 
sports  because  of  the  killing  of  the  Pythdn,  mentioned  in  the 
Aristotle  fragments,*  must  here  find  a  place,  whether  as  genuine 
myth  or  as  a  scrap  of  history.  Their  authority  was  supreme  over 
the  sanctuary  of  Delphoi,  and  they  kept  Apollo's  field  or  plain  of 
Kirrha  uncultivated.  They  also  exercised  precisely  the  functions 
of  the  Turkish  Evkaf  in  administering  all  properties  dedicated  to 
benevolent  uses.  They  guarded  their  boundaries  {^poi^  see  Index) 
and  thereon  inscribed  the  talismanic  symbol  of  Apollo*s  tripod*  or, 
as  we  may  now  irreverently  call  it,  his  3-legged  stool,  to  mark  his 
property.  And  this  affords  me  a  highly  respectable  origin  for  the 
famous  Broad  Arrow  ^  of  our  English  Ordnance.* 
Wharton*s  Lcnv  Lexicon  registers  the  loose  suggestion  that  this  was  "  the  ^  or 
A,  *the  broad  a'  of  the  Druids **— which  carries  a  smile  rather  than  conviction 
with  it.  Others  have  pointed  out  a  barbed  dart*head  in  the  arms  of  Lord 
Sydney  (afterwards  Earl  of  Romney)  Master-General  of  the  Ordnance  1693- 
1702.  But  there  was  a  Master-General  from  1604,  and  Masters  of  the  Ordnance 
^rom  Richard  the  Third's  time  (see  Mr.  Denham  Robinson's  War  Office  Ust), 

AmphiKtuon,  son  of  Deukalidn  and  Pyrrha,  and  father  of 
Itdnos,*  cannot— no  matter  what  the  commentators  have  said — be 

*  iEsch.  Agst  KtisiphSn,  117.  *  Didot*s  Frag.  Hist.  Grac.  ii,  189* 
'  Wescher,  Mhn^  des  savants  Strangers  prisenUs  h  tAcad.  des  Inscrip.  tome  viii. 

^  I  point  to  this  with  no  little  pleasure,  as  I  began  my  working  life — ^under  the  kindly 
Bway  of  Lof  d  Emly — where  the  sounding  motto  of  the  good  old  Ordnance  Office,  sua  tela 
tonanti  (granted  by  royal  warrant  of  19th  July  1806,  as  Mr.  C.  H.  Athill,  the  Richmond 
Herald,  kindly  informs  me)  still  remains  in  letters  of  iron.  I  think  I  can  support  my 
theory  from  the  Laws  of  the  Visigoths,  viii,  6(1)  and  x,  3  (3)  which  direct  boundaries 
to  be  marked  by  blazing  trees  with  three  divisions  or  cuts  (decurias) :  **  faciat  tres 
decurias" — *'  in  arborlbus  notas  quas  decurias  vocant,  convenit  observari.*' 

*  Theopompos,  /rag.  80 ;  Apoll.  Bibl.  i,  7,  2,  7.  Simdnides  of  Ke6s  (556  to 
514  B.C.)  made  Itdnos  the  father  of  the  sisters  Ath£na  and  loDama ;  the  second  being 


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Myths ^  The  Cardinal  Points.  x^i 

put  out  of  this  myth.  By  another  account  he  was  autochthonous,^ 
which  would  sort  well  with  my  cosmic  requirements.  EriChThonios 
(see  "The  Arcana")  expelled  AmphiKtuon  after  a  twelve  years' 
reign.^  AmphiKtuon  put  up  an  altar  to  Orthos  Dionusos  in  the 
temple  of  the  Hours  (Hdrai).'  This  upright  (orthos)  supreme 
power  I  shall  take  leave  to  consider  an  axis-god  ;  and  the  temple 
of  the  hours  then  at  once  becomes  the  heavens  of  the  i2-divisioned 
zodiac  of  the  Amphiktuones. 

The  legend  about  Dionusos  commanding  this  AmphiKtuon  to  make  a  law  or 
canon  that  water  was  to  be  put  in  the  (sacrificial  ?)  wine,  after  the  wine  had 
been  first  tasted  in  its  purity,  is  strange  enough,  and  merits  pursuit.  The 
ancients  brought  it  in  her^  (see  Philochoros  in  loc,  cit). 
AmphiKtuon's  brother  was  named  HellSn.*  AmphiKtuonfi, 
daughter  of  Phthios,  consort  of  Asterios,  and  mother  by  him  of 
D6tis,*  must  also  be  placed  among  the  stars  of  this  celestial  myth. 
Upon  all  these  evidences,  then,  I  think  that  it  is  scarcely  wise,  or 
possible,  to  discard  the  ancient  belief  that  the  amphiktiones  or 
ktuones  took  their  name  from  this  very  superior  personality  among 
the  gods.*  Or  if  I  put  it  this  way :  that  the  name  in  both  cases 
must  have  had  an  identical  cosmic  divine  origin,  perhaps  there  will  be 
few  objectors.  But  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  12  sons  of  NSleus, 
I  think  this  receives  strengthening  from  th^  related  names  (for  di  here  =  ampki) 
of  the  Centaur  DiKtus  and  of  the  Cretan  DiKtaion  ^pos  (mountain),  ajso  called 
DiKtd,  while  Zeus,  qr  rather  Zan,  was  DiKtaios.  The  name  that  survives  for  the 
mountain  nowadays  is  Lasthi,  where  one  would  wish  to  discern  Xaf  a  stone,  and 
theos.  The  Cretan  DiKtunnaion  oros  is  connected  with  the  goddess  DiKt6  or 
DiKtunna  (which  was  a  surname  of  Artemis),  who  in  avoiding  Min6s  threw 
herself  €U  fU-icrva  (Strabo,  x),  which  I  want  to  read  as  *  from  the  dual-support '  (= 
double  pillar)  of  thp  heavens  (see  the  section  on  this,  later).  Thus,  recollecting 
that  Crete  is  in  cosmic  myth  the  Earth  (see  p.  138  suprd)^  its  di-ktaion,  its 
dual-pillared  mountain  is  the  heavens-mountain  ;  and  that  also  satisfactorily 

killed  by  the  first  in  an  assault  of  arms  which  ended  in  a  fight  (Didot*s  Frag^  ffisf,  Gr^, 
ii,  42).  This  seems  t^  clea^  doublet  of  Ath£p^  (cilling  PalLas  (the  goddess)  at  p,  49 
supra,  as  related  by  Apollodoros  some  400  ^ears  later  {BibL  iii,  12,  3) ;  and  it  absolutely 
makes  AmphiKtuon  the  ^prandsire  of  Athena.  How  is  that  for  high  ?  It  also  gives  the 
equation  lo  -K  Dama  -*  Pal  -f  Las,  in  which  Dama  (see  p.  142  supra)  must  «  Lfis. 
Then  lo  ought  to  «>  Pal ;  and  so  it  does  !  for  Ihs,  arrow,  dart,  missile  weapon,  is  only 
another  word  for  pal,  the  spear.  And  now  I  venture  the  supposition  that  *I«,  the  cow- 
goddess  pf  the  heavens,  was  so  named  froin  her  horns  and  not  from  her  "  wandering,"  as 
Seyffcrt's  Dictionary  say?.  Nor  does  all  this  seem  to  hurt  my  derivation  of  PalLas  on 
p.  48  supra  (see  also  p.  212  infra), 

*  BibL  iii,  14,  6.  *  BibL  iii,  14,  6,  2.  '  Philochoros,^^.  |8. 
<  ApolL  BibL  i,  7,  2,  7.                      *  Pherecycles,/r^f.  8,  and  others. 

•  Theopompos,/rfl5f.  80;  Androti6n, /r<i^.  33* 


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i82  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

suj^iorts  my  celestial  location  of  the  DiKtaion  haven  (pp.  133,  140).  The  old 
connection  of  DiKtunna  with  a  net,  diktuon,  is  by  no  means  embarrassing,  for 
the  omphalos-stone  is  constantly  seen  in  ancient  Greek  art  to  be  covered  with  a 
net  (see  "The  Navel").  That  DiKtus  was  one  of  the  two  sons  of  Magnus  is 
another  proof  that  I  am  here  keeping  the  right  track ;  and  his  brother 
PoluDeKt^,  who  brought  up  the  great  god  Perseus ;  who  by  force  espoused 
Dana^  (mother  of  Perseus  and  daughter  of  Akrisios  the  king-god  of  the  akrfi  of 
Argos,  of  the  Extremity  of  the  heavens) ;  and  who  with  all  his  subjects  was 
turned  to  stone,  is  again  consonant,  for  he  and  they  are  all  star-stone  heavens- 
gods.  __^«__ 

Albrecht  Weber*  has  made  the  Ingenious  and  interesting  suggestion  that 
the  twelve  hallowed  nights  which  make  their  ap[>earance  in  Vedic  antiquity,  and 
which  are  found  in  the  West,  especially  among  the  Teutons  (our  own  "  twelve 
days  of  Christmas  "  and  "  Twelfth  Night ")  are  to  be  regarded  as  an  attempt  to 
make  the  year  up  to  365  J  days  ;  because  the  lunar  month  multiplied  by  neither 
12  nor  13  will  hit  off  this  number.  Thus  354  -h  12  would  =  366.  But  366 
won't  do  dther,  of  course  ;  and  Weber  rightly  throws  doubt  on  his  own  con- 
jecture in  the  Indische  Studien  xvii,  224. 


The  Number  Sixteen  can  also  be  considered,  as  a  further  sub- 
division of  the  Eight  See,  for  instances,  the  evolution  of  the 
16-sided  Egyptian  typical  column  from  the  squared  post  and  the 
octagonal  pillar  pi.  157,  and  the  16  columns  of  the  Dome  of  the 
Rock,  p.  167. 

The  shodhashin  or  16-fold  chant  of  archaic  Hind(i!sm  meant 
Indra.'  When  Bhagavat  (Vishnu)  took  the  human  form  of 
Purusha,  he  was  composed  of  16  parts.*  In  his  palace  were  16,000 
pavilions  for  his  16,000  consorts.  Daksha  (Right)  marries  the 
daughter,  PrasClti,  of  the  First  Manu,  and  has  16  fine-eyed 
daughter's  by  her. 

In  Irish  myth,  Sinsar  the  monarch  of  the  World  has  under  him 
1 6  warlike  princes.  The  great  horse  of  the  Giolla  Deacair  bears 
away  16  of  the  Fianna  on  his  back,  and  Finn  starts  with  15  others 
(+  I  =  16)  in  pursuit  Not  alone  so,  but  the  horse  is  compelled 
by  Conan  Mael  (the  Bald,  a  Greek  note  of  the  heavens-god)  to 
make  a  return  journey  through  the  $ame  seas  and  dense  woods, 
and  over  the  same  islands  rocks  and  dark  glens,  with  the  Giolla 
and  15(4   1  =  1 6)  other  denizens  of  the  celestial  Land  of  Promise.* 

*  Zwei  vedische  Texte  uber  Omina  und  Poritntay  p.  388. 

*  Eggeling's  Satap,  Brdkm,  313,  400,  402,  131. 

»  Bhdgav.'pur.  i.  3,  I ;  ii,  2g ;  14,  37.    iv,  i,  47. 

*  Dr.  Joyce's  CtUic  RooianceSy  194,  238,  243,  271,  272. 


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Myths.^  The  Cardinal  Points.  183 

All  this  seems  unmistakeably  zodiacal,  or  connected  with  the 
celestial  points  of  the  compass. 

The  pageant  of  Chester  at  the  summer  solstice  as  late  as  1 564 
included  four  giants  and  sixteen  naked  boys.» 

"To  THE  Editor  of  the  DAIL  Y  GRAPHIC,  Sir— It  may  interest  some 
of  your  readers  to  know  that  a  genuine  old  English  song  serves  for  the  street 
cry  of  the  lavender-seller.     It  may  be  heard  almost  any  day  in  Bloomsbury. 


Will  3roa      buy    my  blooming  U  -  ven  •  der  T       Six-teen  good  brtuKbes     a    pen  -  ny. 

The  regain  is  the  same  each  time — *  Sixteen  good  branches  a  penny'  \  but 
there  are  six  lines,  or  verses,  thus  : 

Will  you  buy  my  blooming  lavender  ? 

Sixteen  good  branches  a  penny. 
If  you  buy  it  once  you'll  buy  it  twice  ; 

Sixteen  good  branches  a  penny. 
For  it  makes  your  clothes  smell  so  very  nice  ; 
Sixteen  good  branches  a  penny. 

Now^s  the  time  to  scent  your  handkerchief  ; 

Sixteen  good  branches  a  penny, 
With  my  sweet  blooming  lavender ; 

Sixteen  good  branches  a  penny, 
For  it's  ajl  in  full  blossom  ; 
Sixteen  good  branches  a  penny. 
I  took  this  song  down,  with  the  air,  from  a  young  woman  who  comes  round 
regularly  once  or  twice  a  week,  and  she  told  me  her  mother  taught  it  to  her, 
'and  she  learned  it  off  her  mother,  what  kept  a  lavender  garden  out  at 
Uxbridge.'     It  appears  to  be  the  custom  to  sell  lavender  *  sixteen  branches  a 
penny,'  for  I  have  since  heard  others  offering  it  on  those  terms,  but  I  have  not 
been  able  to  discover  why  sixteen  should  be  the  accepted  number.     My  lavender 
girl  never  offers  any  other  flowers  for  sale,  and  her  fether  and  mother  are  in  the 
same  trade — while  lavender  is  in  season—^and  though  they  get  their  stock-in- 
trade  wholesale  at  *  Common  Garden,'  they  still  live  at  Uxbridge,  like  the 
mother's  mother  *  what  kept  a  lavender  garden,' — Yours  obediendy,  Upper 
Bedford  Place,    i  Sept,  1890," 

Do  not  forget  here  that  the  lavender-j^£^^  is  a  blossoming  reed 
or  rod. 

^  Strutt  (Hone's  ed. )  p.  xliii. 


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i84  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  {Axis 


14. — The  Four  Living  Creatures. 

IT  results  from  any  full  study  of  the  myths,  symbolism,  and 
nomenclature  of  the  Four  Quarters  that  those  directions  were 
viewed  in  the  strict  orthodoxy  of  heavens-mythology  not  as 
the  N.  S.  E.  and  W.  of  every  earthly  spot  whatever,  but  as  four 
heavens- divisions  spread  out  around  the  Pole.  Thus  for  example 
the  six  Chinese  Ho  ^  or  Ki  ;g|,  the  limits  of  space — the  zenith, 
nadir,  and  the  four  cardinal  points — must  initially  and  astrono- 
mically be  referred  to  the  N.  and  S.  poles  and  the  four  quarters  of 
the  sphere  around  (in  which  view  of  the  four  quarters,  be  it  remarked, 
our  conventional  N.  S.  E.  anc(  W,  completely  disappear).  This  is 
borne  out  too  in  the  four  Ki,  of  which  the  N.  pqint  is  the  spot 
over  which  the  Polestar  stands.^  And  the  same  idea  explains  the 
five  fang  jjf ,  which  are  N.  S.  E.  W.  and  Centre. 

It  is  from  this  astrog^ostical  point  of  view  that  we  n^ust  now 
proceed  to  consider  the  four  niost  archaic  great  divisions  of  the 
Chinese  celestial  sphere,  which  will  be  found  to  illustrate  for  us 
the  Fqur  Living  Creatures  of  the  Hebrew  Sacred  Books, 


In  pealing  with  the  Number  Seven,  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
make  important  mention  of  th^  Book  of  I^evelations.  The  number 
of  astrological  passages  in  that  Apocalypse  is  truly  remarkable. 
3ir  G.  Birdwood'  fully  recognises  the  astrological  character  of  the  Apocalypse 
yt\\\Qh  (xxi)  takes  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  from  Chaldean  astrology  and  also 
from  the  Efook  of  Tobit  (xiii) ;  which  la^t  is  a  well-constructed  Tale  of 
f^ineveh, 

For  instance,  there  need  now  be  very  little  doubt  that,  whether  in 
Ezekiel,  Daniel,  or  the  Apocalypse,*  the  "  four  great  beasts "  or 
•*  four  living  creatures  "  who  come  in  a  whirlwind  out  of  the  North, 
who  are  "full  of  eyes  roundabout  and  within,"  have  a  similar 
origin  to  the  four  great  primary  animal  divisions  of  the  Chinese 
celestial  sphere  ;  and  that  the  eyes  of  which  "  they  are  full "  are 
nothing  but  their  subordinate  constellations  in  "  the  glassy  sea,  like 
unto  crystal,"  (that  is  in  the  Heavens)  "  round  about  the  throne/' 

*  Mayers,  Manual^  pp.  306,  312,  322, 
'  Soc.  of  AxX&  Journal,  18  Mar.  1887. 

*  Emk,  i,  10,  which  is  not  too  clear  ;  Dan,  vii,  4  to  7  ;  Rev,  iv,  7. 


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MyiAs.] 


The  Four  Living  Creatures, 


i8s 


which  I  suggest  was  originally  the  seat  of  the  Polar  deity.  These 
4  great  celestial  divisions  agree  in  position  with  the  "  4  winds,  held 
by  the  4  angels  at  the  4  corners  of  the  Earth  "  {Rev.  v\x)} 

We  clearly  had  these  cardinal  animals  also  above  (p.  161)  in 
the  4  lords  of  the  corners  of  the  heavens  in  Egyptian  mythology, 
who  are  man,  hawk,  "  jackal,"  and  ape.  I  accordingly  add  them 
to  the  following  table,  which  I  believe  to  be  new,  and  which  shows 
where  the  authorities  above  cited  agree.  The  Chinese  animals 
will  be  found  fully  discussed  in  Professor  Gustave  Schlegel's  very 
important  work  Uranographie  Chinoise? 


Chinese. 

Ezekiel. 

Revelations. 

Daniel. 

Egyptian, 
see  p.  159. 

Dark  Warrior      ... 

Man 

Man 

Leopard 

Man 

White  Tiger 
Vermilion  Bird     ... 

Lion 
Eagle 

Lion 
Eagle 

Lion  (Eagle's 

wings) 
Nondescript 

"Jackal" 
Hawk 

Azure  Dragon 

Ox 

Calf 

Bear 

Ape 

It  will  be  observed  that,  in  three  out  of  the  four,  Ezekiel  and 
the  Apocafypse  follow  the  Chinese  Astrology,  and  that  Daniel  shows 
the  greatest  divergence,  only  agreeing  in  one,  the  Lioq  (or  White 
Tiger).*  The  writer  of  Daniel  may  have  followed  some  other 
nomenclature  of  the  zodiacal  divisions,  or  may  have  been  looser 
in  his  knowledge  ;  although  F.  Lenormant  said  that  Book,  in  spite 
of  its  relatively  recent  date,  contains  much  excellent  information 
on  the  Babylon  pf  Nabuchpdonossor.*  Of  course,  they  all  coincide 
as  to  the  number  of  the  animals.*  These  facts  seem  tq  throw 
some  light  on  the  method  of  literary  workmanship  pursued  in 
coniposing  their  popular  "  Visions "  by  these  three  writers,  who 
might  be  classed  with  the  priestrastrologers. 

In  the  Sepher  Yesirqhy  the  winged  ox  of  the  Hebrews  was 
given  to  the  North,  the  winged  Ijon  to  the  South,  the  eagle  to  the 
East,  and  the  winged  man  to  the  We^t.    These  have  also,  of  course, 

*  The  Chinese  "4  comers  of  the  Earth"  are  N.  E„  S.  E.,  N.  W„  and  S.  W. 
(Bfs^yers,  Chinese  Reader^ s  Manual^  p.  311). 

*  Sing  Shin  Kao  Yuin,  The  Hague,  1875,  pp.  49  to  72, 

*  Mr.  Aston  tells  me  of  a  Corean  version  of  a  tale  from  the  Reineke  Fuchs  qxle, 
ill  which  a  white  tiger  does  (^uty  for  our  Hop, 

^  Magie  der  Chaldder,  pp.  525  to  571. 

^  See  also  the  four  tribal  animals  of  the  Gold  Coast,  p.  174  supra. 


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1 86 


The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


descended  to  the  4  evangelists  as  a  sort  of  '*  intestate  legacy."  I 
must  not  forget  to  particularize  that  the  4-winged  cherubim  of 
Ezekiel  (x,  14)  have  everyone  4  faces,  a  man's,  a  bull's  (cherub's 
in  the  Revised  Version),  a  lion's  and  an  eagle's.  These  faces, 
said  the  late  Francois  Lenormant,  unite  in  these  cherubs  the 
4  types  of  celestial,  luminous,  protecting  genii  represented  on 
Chaldeo- Assyrian  monuments.  Ezekiel's  cherubs,  too,  are  covered 
with  eyes  on  all  their  bodies  and  their  wings  (x,  12).^  Bishop 
Hellmuth*  says  the  Chay-yoth  (beasts)  of  Ezekiel's  ist  chapter 
are  the  same  as  the  "  K'roobeeni "  of  the  9th  and  loth  chapters. 


I  may  be  expected  to  say  something  more  about  the  4  Beasts  as  connected 
with  the  4  evangelists.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  connection  is  by  no  means 
exactly  ascertained.  St.  Jerome  bracketed  Matthew  with  the  Man,  Mark  with 
the  Lion,  Luke  with  the  Cal^i  and  John  wjth  the  Eagl^ ;  all  the  patristic 
authorities  seem  agreed  about  Luke  and  John,  but  St,  Augustine  maintained 
that  the  Lion  was  Matthew's,  and  tl^e  Man,  or  rather  Angel,  Mark's.  The 
earliest  known  example — a  5th  or  6th  century  terra-cotta  bas-relief  in  the 
catacombs — only  gives  a  winged  Angel  and  a  winged  Ox,  each  having  a  book. 
The  whole  4  are  never  found  together  in  the  catacombs.  In  the  early  Italian 
basilicas  and  churches  these  Beasts  are  on  the  ceiling  (the  sky),  their  heads  and 
wings  only  being  shown  issuing  from  clouds :  a  clear  connection  with  their 
position  in  the  celestial  sphere,  as  I  have  here  endeavoured  to  expound  it,  and 
a  reminder  of  the  Japanese-Chinese  Qragon  of  the  four  quarters  (p.  169).  A 
Mosaic  of  the  5th  century  in  Mrs.  Jameson's  Legendary  Art  gives  the  winged 
ox  surrounded  by  stars  ;  and  Cjampjni's  Vetera  Afonumenta  gives  another 
5th  century  Mosaic  from  the  church  of  S.  Nazario  e  Celso,  at  Ravenna  ;  where 
the  4  Beasts  issue  from  clouds  at  the  4  comers  of  a  starry  ground.  They  are 
also  to  be  seen  in  the  21st  card  of  the  French  tarot  pack,  wjiich  represents  the 
universe,  le  monde. 

Professor  G.  Schlegel  gives  the  following  list  of  the  four  great 
Chinese  constellation-groups  :  "  At  each  of  the  4  fang  jjf  (= square), 
that  is  the  4  cardinal  points,  are  7  houses  ^  or  groups  of  stars 
which  each  form  a  figure.  Those  of  the  E.  form  the  figure  of  a 
Dragon,  and  those  of  the  W.  form  the  figure  of  a  Tiger.  (The 
head  of  these  figures  is  to  the  S.  and  their  tail  to  the  N.) 
Those  of  the  S.  form  the  figure  of  a  Bird,  and  those  of  the 
N.  the  figure  of  a  Tortoise.  (The  head  of  these  figures  is  to 
the  W.  and   the  tail  to  the  E.)"    The   E.  part  of  the  heavens 

>  Orig,  de  t  If  ist,  i,  laj.     See  also  what  is  said  further  as  to  the  cherubim,  under 
the  heading  of  **  The  Flaming  Sword." 
'  Biblical  Thesaurus,  1884,  p.  359. 


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AfythsJ]  The  Four  Living  Creatures.  187 

was  called  the  house  of  the  blue  Dragon,  t'sang  lung  ;  the  N. 
that  of  the  black  Warrior,  hiuen  wu  ;  the  W.  that  of  the  white 
Tiger,  pS  hu  ;  and  the  S.  the  house  of  the  red  Bird,  chu  niao.^ 
This  also  seems  to  me  to  be  the  simplest  authentic  form  of  the 
imputation  of  animal  and  human  forms  and  names  to  divisions  of 
the  skies. 

It  is  noteworthy  too  that  the  4  animals  reappear  in  Chinese 
myth  as  the  4  Ling,  flt  "supernaturally  or  spiritually  endowed 
creatures,*  which  are  (i)  the  Tortoise  (the  more  ancient  title  of  the 
Dark  Warrior  constellation)  ;  (2)  the  Lin,  which  is  more  familiarly 
known  to  us  as  the  K'i-lin,  and  has  the  body  of  a  deer,  the  tail  of 
an  ox,  and  a  single  horn  ;  (3)  the  F^ng,  generally  translated  phoenix, 
which  has  a  pheasant's  head,  a  swallow's  beak,  a  tortoise's  neck, 
and  yet  the  outward  semblance  of  a  dragon  with  the  tail  of  a  fish  ; 
and  (4)  the  fourth  creature  is  the  Dragon  itself,  as  before. 

A  Chinese  collective  name  for  the  4  celestial  animals  is  the 
4  Kung  ^  quadrants,  or  divisions  into  sevens  (as  above)  of  their 
28  great  astronomic  constellations.  The  Kung  are  each  ruled  by 
one  of  the  4  Tsing  j^  or  stellar  influences.^  (The  introduction  of 
the  4  Ling  into  the  same  category,  though  almost  obvious,  must 
I  believe  be  charged  to  my  account) 

The  Four  Sleepers,  who  are  Ts'ai  Lwan  (or  Wen  Siao),  Han 
Shan,  Shih-te,  and  F^ng-Kan*  must  be  another  nomenclature  of- 
these  Chinese  cosmic  powers  ;  and  here  we  seem  to  be  again  in  touch 
with  the  Egyptian  Urn-gods  and  the  Subban  Shambtib^  (p.  160). 
The  first  of  the  4  Sleepers  is  mounted  on  a  Tiger,  and  the  word 
F^ng,  which  occurs  in  the  nan^e  of  another,  is  the  name  of  one  of 
the  4  Ling. 

The  Tiger  on  the  Korean  fls^g  was  a  winged  tiger  rampant,  spitting  fire,  and 
grasping  homed  lightnings  in  his  uplifted  forepaws.^ 

The  4  sea-calves  in  Odyssey  iv  (435,  &c,)  seem  to  give  us 
similar  ideas.  The  Ancient  One,  *0  Fe/ocoi/,  is  fallen-on  and  killed 
by  the  Four,  who  are  really  men  disguised  in  phoca-skins.  But  he 
changes  into  a  Lion,  a  Dragon,  a  Pard  and  a  Boar  ;  and  I  do  not 
think  we  need  want  to  get  much  closer  than  this  to  the  chief 
heavens-god  and  the  Four  Living  Creatures,  who  are  his  forms. 
We  also  have  here  the  magic  arts  or  wiles  of  Kronos  (460).     He 

*  G.  Schlegel,  Uranog,  Chh  p.  i,  citing  a  Chinese  work  on  the  Urh  Va. 

•  Mayers,  Manual,  p.  307.  •  /did,  pp.  358,  307,  311. 

♦  Anderson's  Ca/a/,  ptgs.  Brit.  Mus.  52.  *  Griffis*s  Corea^  p.  320. 


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i88  The  Night  of  the  Gods. 

is  the  mighty  First,  II/mot^w  i^iiio^,  he  is  the  deathless  Egyptian 
First,  the  unerring  Ancient  of  the  Universe  Ocean,  Vkp<ov  aXM>9 
vr)fjL€pTTf^  addvaro^  Tlpo>r€vs  AtyinrTio<;  [see  what  is  said  elsewhere 
as  to  celestial  Egypt]  (Odyss.  iv,  365, 384). 

Four  again  (besides  Odusseus  as  a  fifth)  turn  the  bar  about  in  the  eye  of 
the  Cyclops  (Odyss,  ix,  335).     Four  dogs  watch  the  swine  of  Odusseus  (xiv,  20). 

The  primaeval  entity,  intelligence,  or  i^on  called  PJ^an^s,  the 
offspring  of  Ether  and  of  Night,  was  described  by  Hierpnymus 
"  as  a  serpent  with  bull's  and  lion's  heads,  with  a  human  face  in 
the  n^iddle,  and  wings  on  the  shoulders/'^  This  would  make  this 
Pharifes  inerely  a  syncrasis  of  the  4  be^ts,  and  therefore  the 
manifest  (^ati/cD,  appear)  heavens. 

I  find  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  G.  King,  D.D.,«  ha?  been  in  front  of 
me  in  publishing  an  astronomical  conjecture  about  the  4  beasts ; 
and  I  rejoice  to  hail  the  support  although  the  view  is  not  precisely 
mine.     |Ie  says : 

"  The  Chaldeans  paid  special  regard  to  4  points  in  the  circle,  viz.  the  equinoxes 
and  the  tropics.  These  4  points  gave  rise  to  the  4  Chaioth  or  Living  Creatures 
which  Ezekiel  adopted  from  Babylonia." 

This  conjecture  as  to  the  astronomical  positions  may  not  be 
irreconcilable  with  the  indubitable  archaic  facts  set  forth  scientifi- 
cally in  Chinese  treatises,  as  above  explained, 


It  is  of  course  impossible  to  debate  here  any  migrational 
question  as  to  how  or  when  thes^  Chinese  divisions  travelled 
Westward  or  Eastward,  if  they  ev^r  did  either.  Nor  dp^s  it  seem, 
as  stated  in  th^  Disputatio  Circularis  (p.  1 2),  that  such  a  question 
is  of  any  very  great  radical  import  as  regards  the  origin  of  these 
astronomical  concepts.  But  an  antiquity  in  China  so  great  as  to 
seem  fabulous,  and  even  give  a  shock  to  all  our  scientific  nerves,  is 
claimed  for  these  primary  divisions,  upon  apparently  trustworthy 
calculations  of  backward  astronomical  time.  The  curious  must 
only  be  referred  to  Professor  G.  Schlegel's  very  able  and  extra- 
ordinary work,  Uranographie  Chinoise^  to  which  I  have  such 
frequent  occasion  to  be  indebted  throughout  this  Inquiry. 

*  Lang's  Myth,  RU,  and  Rel,  i,  317.  «  Akkadian  Genesis  (1888),  p.  ai. 

•  The  Hague,  Martinus  Njjhoff,  1875. 


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189 


The  Pillar. 


ts*  The  Axis  as  Pillar. 
16*  Divine  Names  in  Lat- 

17.  The  Tat  ||  of  Ptah.--The  Tee  and  Umbrella. 

18.  The  Heavens-Palace  and  its  Pillar. 

19.  The  Colophon. 

20.  The  Dual  Pillars. 

a  I.  The  Dokana  or  "  Gate  of  Heaven." 


15.— The  Axis  as  Pillar^ 

WE  have  seen  (p.  36)  that  the  dual  Japatlese  Kami  firmly 
planted  the  Spear  irt  the  Earth,  and  niade  a  heavens-Pillar 
of  it. 

There  was  also  an  Ame  hitbtsu-bashira,  Heaven's  One-Pillar,  which  was  an 
archaic  name  of  the  island  of  Iki.*  And  there  was  a  god  of  the  awful  pillar  of 
heaven,  Ame  no  Mi-Hashira  no  kami  f  and  an  awful  Earth-Pillar,  kuni  tiO 
Mi-Hashira. 

This  conversion  of  the  nu-hoko  or  Spear  into  the  heavens-pillar  is, 
Mr.  W.  G.  Aston  informs  me,*  taken  from  the  Kuskiki,  a  book 
which  professes  to  give  an  original  account  of  the  age  of  the  gods 
and  of  early  history  down  to  Suiko  Tenn6  (A*D»  593-628)- 

Its  authorship  is  attributed  to  Sh6toku  Taishi  and  Soga  no  Umako  ;  and 
its  preface,  which  purports  to  be  by  the  latter  of  these  joint  authors,  states  that 
the  book  was  completed  in  the  year  622.  It  thus  gives  itself  out  to  be  the  book 
actually  mentioned  in  the  Nikongt,  which  says  that  in  the  yeai*  620  (28th  of  the 
feminine  Suiko  Tenii6)  Sh6toku  Taishi  and  Soga  no  Umako  [began  to  ?] 
compile  by  their  joint  efforts  a  Record  of  the  MiKado,  of  the  country,  of  the  Omi, 
Muraji,  Tomo  no  miyatsuko,  and  Kuni  no  miyatsuko,  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
Mikado's  followers,  and  of  the  people^    This,  in  the  Nshongty  is  the  first  mention 

*  Chamberlain's  Kofikiy  pp.  23,  25. 

*  Pure  Shinid  74,  75 ;  Trans,  As.  See  Jap.  vii,  417*  These  are  some  of  Mr.  E. 
M.  Satow*s  masterly  E^ssays  on  Archaic  Japanese  mythology  and  language.  In  common 
with  all  who  recc^ise  the  growing  importance  of  the  subject,  and  ihe  excellence  of  the 
Essays,  I  venture  to  express  a  hope  that  Mr.  Satow  will  ere  long  publish  them  in  a  col- 
lected form. 

»  Letter  of  29th  March  1889. 


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I90  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

of  any  records  of  the  court  The  Nihongi  also  says  that  in  68 1  Temmu  Tenn6 
commanded  prince  KawaShima  (river-island)  and  eleven  others  (which  makes  a 
suspiciously  zodiacal  and  chronological  dozen)  to  compile  a  history  of  the  MiKados 
and  an  account  of  ancient  matters.  The  work  of  these  twelve  is  not  considered 
to  have  been  preserved  ;  that  is,  as  the  statements  about  it  may  be  interpreted, 
their  work  (if  they  ever  worked)  is  not  extant  as  specifically  theirs.  But  it  might 
be  theorised  that  we  may  have  the  result  of  the  labours  of  the  named  chroni- 
clers, including  Yasumaro  and  Hiyeda  no  Are,  in  the  Kozhiki^  Kuzhiki^  and 
Nihongi  (all  of  which  titles,  by-the-way,  are  Chinese,  not  Japanese). 

The  remarkable  modem  scholar  and  critic  MotoOri  Norinaga(i  730-1801) 
condemns  the  Kuzhiki  as  a  forgery,  compiled  at  a  much  later  date  than  it 
pretends-to,  and  chiefly  made-up  from  the  Kozhiki  and  Nihongi,  The  truth 
may  very  well  be  that  all  the  three  are  equally  entitled  to  genuine  respect, 
and  Mr.  Aston  says  that  if  the  Kuzhiki  "  is  genuine,  which  I  think  is  quite 
possible,  it  is  older  than  any  of  them,"*  by  its  owi\  profession.  The  Kuzhiki 
contains  passages  which  are  also  in  the  Kogo-Shiu-i  (composed  in  807),  and 
mentions  Saga  Tennd  (810-823).  But  this  is  not  enough  to  destroy  its 
character  ;  and  "  parts  of  it,"  writes  Mr.  Satow,* "  seem  to  be  based  upon  other 
sources  than  those  abovementioned,  and  are  of  considerable  value."  Mr. 
Chamberlain  says'  that  Motowori's  condenmation  of  the  Kuzhiki  "  has  been 
considered  rash  by  later  scholars." 

It  is  but  natural  that  we  should  still  find  in  Japan  other 
reminiscences  of  the  Pillar  idea.  There  is  a  curious  copper  pillar, 
the  Sorintd,  at  Nikkd,  which  is  said  to  be  one  of  six  in  various  parts 
of  Japan.  The  present  pillar  was  put-up  in  1643,  and  is  a  cylinder 
42  feet  high.*  Its  Japanese  pedigree  seems  to  be  Buddhist ;  and 
the  syllable  td^  Mr.  Aston  says,*  is  merely  the  Indian  word  tope ; 
which  also  appears  in  Korean  and  in  some  Chinese  dialects  as  tap^ 
and  in  Siam  as  sathup.  The  term  T6  is  not  confined  to  large 
pagodas  or  pillars  ;  small  structures  consisting  of  thirteen  single 
stones  piled  one  on  another  are  not  infrequent  in  Japan,  and  are 
known  by  the  same  name. 

The  material  of  the  fine  shint6  temples  of  the  Ge-k(i  at  Ise, 
which  are  most  elaborate  works  of  art,  is  wood  alone,  and  they  are 
rebuilt  "  every  20  years,"  say  the  accounts ;  but  this  period  will 
perhaps  prove  to  be  in  origin  the  astronomical  cycle  of  19  years; 
indeed  it  is  added  "the  construction  of  the  new  temple  is  commenced 
towards  the  end  of  the  period."  The  rebuildings  are  worked  by 
having  two  adjacent  sites,  and  the  spot  for  the  central  Pillar  is  at 
all  times  protected,  on  the  unoccupied  plot,  by  a  small  cage  or 

*  Letter  of  29th  March  1889. 

*  RevtTxU  of  Pure  ShintS,  23.  »  Kojiki,y, 

*  Satow  and  Hawes,  p.  445.  »  Letter  of  9  March  1889. 


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MythsJ]  The  Axis  as  Pillar.  191 


shrine.^  Shintd  temples  have,  as  a  rule,  a  chapel  for  the  emblem 
of  the  Kami ;  but  in  one  at  Kami-no-Suwa  there  is  no  chapel,  the 
special  seat  of  the  god  being  a  hole  in  the  ground  surrounded 
by  four  solid  pillars  of  different  woods,  which  are  renewed  every 
7  years. 

As  to  this  twentieth  year,  Odusseus  comes  home  in  the  20th  year  {Odyss, 
ii,  176,  xvii,  327)  ;  Telemachos  makes  his  journey  in  a  swift  ship  with  20  men 
(ibid,  ii,  212) ;  20  geese  are  in  the  house  of  P^nelopd,  and  the  eagle  breaks  all 
their  necks  (xix,  537). 


This  Pillar  idea  is  of  course  by  no  means  the  exclusive  property 
of  Japan.  Chinese  legend  has  its  world-Pillar  of  fabulous  length 
which  sustains  the  Earth.  As  related  in  a  Taoist  work  of  1640,  in 
60  volumes,  the  Shtn-se'en-fung-keen,  a  king  once  upon  a  time  tried 
to  swarm  up  it  into  heaven,  but  it  is  so  smooth  that  he  slipped  down 
again  ;*  a  tale  of  the  Jack-and-the- Beanstalk  order,  which  cannot, 
on  the  (now)  burlesque  side,  be  unrelated  to  the  popular  custom  of 
our  own  "  greasy  pole,"  alias  m^t  de  Cocagne. 

It  demands  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  place  in  the  same 
category  the  long  Egyptian  column  of  the  Harris  papyrus  "  which 
commences  in  the  upper  and  in  the  lower  heavens,"*  and  that  too 
which  the  Peremhru  (Book  of  the  Dead)  calls  "  the  spine  of  the 
Earth."  The  Tlinkeet  Indians  on  the  N.  W.  coast  of  America 
say  the  Earth  rests  on  a  Pillar.*  The  above  Chinese  pillar  has  its 
pendant  in  the  Talmudic  Pillar  joining  the  upper  and  the  lower 
paradises,  up  and  down  which  the  righteous  climb  and  slide  on 
sabbaths  and  festivals.*  In  Plato's  and  Cicero's*  story  of  Er  the 
Pamphylian,  who  rose  from  the  dead,  the  bright  Column  which 
extends  through  all  heavens  and  earth  is  used  by  the  earth-visiting 
spirits  ;  and  both  these  last  are  variants  of  Jacob's  Ladder.  Then 
there  is  Pindar's'  Tower  of  Kronos,  whose  pillars  we  have  later 
on. 

A  passage  in  the  Odyssey  (i,  127)  has  struck  me  as  possessing  a  hidden 
significance.  TiyX/Maxor  bears  the  spear  of  Pallas  Athfinfi  and  sets  it  in  the 
spear-stand  against  a  great  pillar,  ir/)Af  iciWa  fioKprip,    This  I  think  (and  it  has 

'  Trans,  As.  Soc  Jap.  vii,  401  (Mr.  Satow);  Satow  and  Hawcs,  Handbook^  175, 
207,  474- 

•  Chi.  Repository  vii,  519.  »  Records  of  Past ^  x,  152. 

*  Mr.  J.  G.  Eraser  (citing  Holmberg)  Folklore,  i,  150. 

*  Eisenmenger,  Entdecktes  Judenthum  ii,  318  (cited  by  Dr.  Warren). 

•  Repub.  vi,  3,  3  ;  6,  6  and  7,  7.  ^  Olymp.  ii,  56  f. 


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192  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {^aris 

engaged  many  commentators)  may  be  a  myth-fragment  recognising  the  identity 
or  the  double  emploi  of  the  Spear  and  Pillar  as  Axis-symbols. 
Atlas,  when   the   Odyssey  describes  him   (vii,   244,  255)   as   the 
father  of  Kalups6,  is  called  the  pillar  of  the  heavens  ;  and    the 
island  Ogugia  where  Kalups6  dwells  is  called  the  navel  of  the  sea. 

At  the  opposite  side  of  the  world,  there  was  in  the  Aztec  temple 
at  Mexico  a  richly  ornamented  Pillar  of  peculiar  sanctity ;  and  in 
the  centre  of  the  central  temple  of  the  Incas  at  CuzCo  there  was  a 
pillar  at  the  centre  of  a  circle  traversed  by  a  diameter  from  East  to 
Westi 

In  a  Shintd  temple  at  Kashima  iil  Jsipart  thefe  is  the  Celebrated 
Pivot-stone,  the  kaname  ishij  a  Pillar  whose  foundation  is  at  the 
centre  of  the  earth,  and  which  was  sanctified  by  the  local  god 
sitting  Oil  it  when  he  came  down  from  heaven.*  It  restrains  the 
gigantic  catfish  which  causes  earthquakes ;  and  it  is  but  a  type  of  a 
numerous  class.  There  are>  as  Mn  W.  G.  Aston  informs  me,*  two 
of  them  within  five  minutes*  walk  of  the  British  Legation  at  Tokio. 
One  of  these  is  covered  with  salt  by  the  devout  and  ailing,  who 
afterwards  rub  the  salt  on  the  suffering  portions  of  their  bodies. 

Near  the  temple  of  Hecate  at  Megara,  said  Pausanias,  was  a  stone  called 
the  Memorial  (wa-icX^pa)  on  which  the  goddess  had  sat  down  to  rest  from  the 
fatigues  of  looking  for  her  daughter  Persephone.  Above  Delphi,  he  men* 
tioned  another  elevated  stone  wherefrom  the  sibyl  H^rophil^  sang  forth  her 
oracles  (x,  12). 

The  idea  of  the  rock-seat  or  stone  throne  is  to  be  met  with 
everywhere.  The  dukes  of  Carinthia  were  installed  on  a  stone 
near  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  town  in  a  valley,  and  seated  thereon 
swore  with  naked  sword  to  govern  with  justice.^  Near  Upsal  is 
the  similar  stone  of  the  kings  of  Sweden,  and  it  is  surrc^unded 
by  12  lesser  stones.  The  king  is  crowned  and  takes  the  oath 
seated  on  the  stone.* 

Conn  the  Hundred-fighter  trod  on  a  stone  which  screamed  all 
over  the  land.  This  was  the  lia  Fdil,  or  (throne)  stone  of  Fdl. 
At  Tara  it  screamed  under  every  king  whom  it  acknowledged,  and 
carried  the  sovereignty  (for  the  Goidels  of  Milesian  descent)  with 
it  The  tradition  that  this  Tara  stone  went  to  Scone,  the  capital 
of  the  kingdom  of  Alban,  and  thence,  "  favoured  by  "  Edward  I, 
to  Westminster  Abbey  is  much  doubted.®    Fdl  is  the  same  god 

'  Paradise  Found,  p.  247.  •  Satow  and  Hawes  :  Handbook,  475. 

•  Letter  of  9th  March  1889.  *  Joan.  Boemius  :  De  mcribus  gentium,  iii,  244. 

•  Olatts  Magnus  :  De  ritu  gentium  septent,  \,  18  ;  viii,  I. 
«  Rhys*s  Hib.  Lects,  206,  576. 


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Myths^  The  Axis  as  Pillar,  193 

we  have  in  Inis  Fdil,  the  island  of  Fdl,  a  name  of  Ireland  ;  and 
the  Japanese  Rock-seat  of  heaven,  Ame  no  Iha-kura,  is  straightly 
identical  with  this  throne-stone.  The  lia  Fdil  was  properly  the 
temair  (=Tara)  of  Fil,  and  temair  must  therefore  mean  hill, 
height,  acropolis.  The  stone  was  also  called  in  YiX  m6r  =  The 
Great  Fdl,  which  makes  a  god  of  it,  at  once. 

(This  perhaps  ought  to  have  gone  under  the  heading  "  B6th-fels,"  but  it  is 
also  wanted  under  "  The  Rock  of  Ages  "  and  "  The  Navel.")  There  is  also  the 
stone  at  Kingston-on-Thames, 

In  Mailduin*s  voyage  he  comes  to  a  colossal  silver  eight-sided 
pillar  standing  in  the  sea,  out  of  which  it  rises  without  any  land  or 
earth  about  it :  nothing  but  the  boundless  ocean.  Its  base,  deep 
down  in  the  water,  was  invisible,  and  so  was  its  top,  on  account  of  its 
immense  height.  They  heard  some  one  speaking  on  the  top  of 
the  pillar  in  a  loud  clear  glad  voice,  but  knew  not  what  he  said, 
nor  in  what  tongue  he  spoke.*  This  is  doubtless  too  the  ancient 
lofty  boreal  column  of  the  Greek  geographers,  in  the  land  of  the 
Celts,  and  the  significance  of  the  octagonal  form  has  been  shown 
in  **  The  Number  Eight"  See  also  the  octagonal  Japanese  spear 
at  p.  171  supra. 

Wei-kan,  writes  Mr.  A.  R.  Colquhoun,*  is  the  name  given  in 
S.W.  China  to  wooden  or  stone  pillars  erected  to  the  "  tutelary 
genius  "  as  votive  offerings.  The  same  term  is  applied  to  the  masts 
or  poles  raised  at  the  doors  of  all  official  residences.  At  Kwan-yii 
in  W.  Yunnan  an  old  deserted  yamen  or  govern- 
ment office  has  two  stone  wei-kan  in  front,  carved 
in  solid  sandstone. 

In  this  neighbourhood  there  are  "a  curiously  great 
number  of  temples,  wei-kan,  cemeteries,  and  paifang." 
(The  pai-fang  is  the  pai-loo  or  sacred  portal,  as  to  which 
much  is  said  here  under  the  head  of  "  The  Dokana.")  All 
the  wei-kan  are  similar  in  design  and  structure,  and  are 
about  15  to  20  feet  high,  and  six  inches  square  **  often 
bevelled  at  the  edges."  This,  and  the  superposed  squares 
at  the  base  of  the  drawing,  show  that  the  pillars  are  octagonal 

(which   Mr.  Colquhoun  took    for  mere    comer-bevelling);    t>  ^^' ^^ 

giving  us  the  Chinese  (and  Egyptian)  sacred  number  of  the  4^Mft<i\»V*^* 
Eight  half-cardinal  points.  "  A  small  cap  is  usually  fixed  on  the  top,"  and  abcut 
mid-height  the  pillar  transfixes  the  inverted  truncated  pyramid  shown.  Mr. 
Colquhoun  considers  them  "  symbols  of  Nature  worship,"  but  does  not  define 


*  Dr.  Joyce's  Celtic  Romances^  150. 

^  Across  Chrys^j  i,  xxx  ;  ii,  130,  138,  162. 


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194  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

the  meaning  he  here  gives  the  word  Nature.  There  are  also  timber  wei-kan. 
Some  5  days  later,  near  Mau-kai,  "  the  number  of  pai-fang, 
wei-kan,  and  temples  was  remarkable."  Several  primitive 
types  of  wei-kan  were  seen.  (The  reader  is  requested  to 
refer  to  the  remarks  about  the  Mahomedan  towers  in  the 
same  locality,  infra,) 

The  ancient  perron  or  peron  of  Western 
Belgium,  of  which  the  finest  example  is  still  in 
the  Liege  market-place,  is  a  pillar  surmounting 
a  four-sided  flight  of  three  steps  (five  at  Li^e). 
^'^•^  On  top  of  the  pillar  is  a  (conventional)  fir-cone. 
In  1303  the  peron  was  the  arms  of  Lifege.  On  coins  of  the  12th 
century  a  ball  was  on  the  pillar.  Oaths  were  taken  on  the  peron,^ 
a  word  which  simply  means  stone,  that  is  the  upright  stone  which 
was  the  pillar;  and  it  was  the  justice  and  judgement-seat  of  old 
time.  I  suppose  the  name  connects  itself  with  the  god  Perun,  see 
p.  198. 

Mr.  Consul  F.  S.  A.  Bourne,  in  his  valuable  Journey  in  South- 
Western  China^  mentions  "  on  the  road  from  Na-chi  Hsien  square 
pillars  of  stone,  carved  at  the  top  to  represent  the  head  of  Amita 
Buddha.  At  a  distance  they  look  just  like  Roman  terminal 
statues,  and  are  loaded  with  votive  offerings."  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  Amita  the  Immeasurable  is  chief  of  all  Buddhas.  His 
heaven  is  the  Pure  Land,  Sukhav^ti  (in  Japanese  Buddhism, 
J6-do) ;  and  he  is  invoked  in  Japan  oftener  than  any  other 
Buddhic  power,  in  the  well-known  formula  corrupted  in  the 
common  mouth  into  Ndmu  dmi  ddbuts,  I  suggest  that  the  position 
of  Amita  Buddha's  head  on  the  top  of  the  pillar  indicates  him  as  a 
Northern  supernal  deity  at  the  point  of  the  Earth-axis  ;  and  in 
this  I  am  not  forgetting  that  in  later  Northern  Buddhism  his 
paradise  has  been  transferred  to  the  West.  (See  also  "  The  Foot- 
print" in  Vol.  II.) 

The  planting  of  a  post  in  the  middle  of  the  Marae  (village-green,  Greek 
agora,  see  p.  155)  is  the  Maori  custom  of  demand  for  satisfaction  for  blood 
shed  by  the  people  of  the  village.  The  party  demanding  or  challenging  by 
the  erection  of  the  post  is  a  near  relation  of  the  murdered.  If  the  party  so 
challenged  does  not  make  compensation  by  parting  with  all  or  the  greater 
proportion  of  his  goods  and  valuables,  the  post-planter  seizes  one  of  the  people 
of  the  challenged  village,  who  nowadays  is  forced,  if  a  man  to  marry  a  woman, 
if  a  woman  to  marry  a  man  of  the  injured  tribe. 

In  the  case  of  a  wife-murder  at  Piranui,  up  the  Waitotara  river,  in  June 
"  M.  Goblet  d'Alviella's  Mig,  des  SymboUs^  p.  13a 
»  Parly.  Paper  C  5371  (1888),  pp.  3,  4. 


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Myths.']  The  Axis  as  Pillar,  195 

1890,  a  post  was  two  days  afterwards  planted  in  the  centre  of  the  pah,  and  the 
murdering  husband  gave  away  a  double-barrelled  gun,  a  large  piece  of  green- 
stone (Jade)  and  52  acres  of  land.* 

The  Law  and  the  later  Hebrew  prophets,  says  Prof.  Robertson 
Smith,  look  on  the  ritualistic  use  of  sacred  pillars  as  idolatrous.* 
[They  were  thus,  it  seems  to  me,  combating  a  superstitio  from  an 
earlier  fallen  or  falling  creed.]  Hosea  (iii,  4)  speaks  of  the 
mass^bh^h  or  pillar,  as  an  indispensable  feature  of  the  sanctuaries 
in  Northern  Israel — Shechem,  Bethel,  Gilgal,  and  others. 
"For  the  children  of  Israel  shall  abide  many  days  without  king,  and  without 
prince,  and  without  sacrifice,  and  without  pillar  (or  obelisk),  and  without  ephod 
or  teraphim"  (Hosea,  iii,  4).  "According  to  the  goodness  of  his  land  they 
have  made  goodly  pillars,  or  obelisks " — {Ibid,  x,  i).  Then  follows  "He  shall 
smite  their  altars,  he  shall  spoil  their  pillars,"  which  indicates  a  muddled  text 
Prof  Smith  says  the  massSbh^h  was  worshipped  like  the  Arabian 
nosb  or  upright  stone,  and  cites  the  pillars  of  Usous  which  I 
elsewhere  mention,  and  the  blood  of  beasts  of  the  chase  spilt 
to  them.  He  goes  on  to  suggest  that  the  pillar,  as  a  visible 
embodiment  of  the  deity,  in  process  of  time  came  to  be  fashioned 
into  a  statue  of  stone,  as  the  sacred  tree  or  post  developed  into 
an  image  of  wood,*  but  I  want  also,  and  on  a  more  direct  line,  to 
develop  the  pillar  into  the  tower,  the  minaret,  the  steeple. 
In  the  Corpus  Inscr.  Semit,  tab.  viii,  44  (says  Dr.  Wallis 
Budge  hereon)  is  a  copy  of  a  ni250  in  the  British  Museum. 
The  inscription  speaks  of  "  this  ni2JO  "  ;  its  shape  is : 

Deuteronomy  contains  two  furious  injunctions  (vii,  5  ;  xii,  3) 
to  dash  in  pieces  the  pillars  or  obelisks,  and  burn  the  Ash^rim,  of 
other  nations ;  but  the  divine  order  being  also  to  smite,  and 
sacrifice,  and  show  no  mercy  to,  the  people  of  those  nations,  we 
see  that  the  fury  is  not  against  sacred  pillars  as  such,  but  only 
as  being  the  gods  (that  is  the  devils)  of  the  enemy.  One  of  the 
commandments  in  Leviticus  (xxvi,  i.  Deut.  xvi,  22)  is  "  ye  shall 
not  rear  up  a  pillar  (or  an  obelisk),  nor  shall  ye  place  any  figured 
stone  in  your  land,  to  bow  down  to  it."  The  Vulgate  here  has 
titulos  and  ittsignem  lapidem.  There  is  the  utmost  contradiction  in 
the  various  texts,  indicating  obviously  (for  me),  as  stated  above, 
the  proscribing  of  a  superstitio  that  was  dying  very  hard. 

It  is  not  without  its  bearing  upon  all  this  that  M.  Hal^vy  pointed  out  at  the 
SocUtd  Asiatique  (12  Oct  1883)  that  fel,  the  Semitic  god-name,  has  for  its 
primitive  sense  "  a  column."    He  also  recognised  the  connexion  between  the 

1  The  Lancet,  18/10/90,  p.  848. 

'  Rclig,  of  Semites,  186,  187.    This  point  is  also  dealt-with  under  **  The  Tree  "  infra, 

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19^  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

column,  the  cone,  and  the  mountain.    (This  portion  of  our  pillar  subject  is  closely 
connected  with  the  B^th-fels,  to  which  the  reader  is  requested  to  refer  back.) 

Movers  pointed  out  how  the  main  deity  of  Assyria,  Babylon,  Syria,  and 
Phoenicia  (with  Carthage),  dwelt  in  the  highest  heaven,  and  also  on  mountains, 
on  the  high  places  of  the  earth  ;  and  was  represented  in  preference  by  one  or 
many  columns,  pyramids,  or  obelisks  in  the  temples  or  before  them.  He  was 
called  fel  or  felidn,  the  Most  High  ;  Bel  or  Ba'al,  the  Master  ;  and  he  also  had 
the  epithets  of  Adon,  lord ;  Moloch,  king  ;  Adod  or  Adad,  king  of  gods.» 
Baal-Peor  and  Baal-Hermon  were  the  gods  of  those  sacred  mountains.  (Baal- 
Peor  =  Belphegor  =  lord  of  the  opening,  slit,  or  mountain-pass.) 

Supplementing  what  is  stated  at  p.  ii6,  I  shall  here  add  that  Smith's 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible  (i860)  recognises  that  Elohfm  is  the  plural  of  Eloah  ; 
stating  that  the  singular,  with  few  exceptions,  occurs  only  in  poetry.  That  is, 
in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  all  well-known  languages  (as  borne  in  view  in 
this  Inquiry),  that  the  use  of  Eloah  had  been  long  going  out,  in  favour  of 
Elohim.  The  prose  exceptions  in  which  Eloah  occurs  are  NehenUah  ix,  17  : 
"  thou  art  an  Eloah  of  forgiveness,  -gracious  and  full  of  compassion,  slow  to 
anger,  and  plenteous  in  mercy,"  (the  English  version  here  has  "  a  God  "),  and 
ii  Chron,  xxxii,  1 5. 

"It  will  be  found,"  says  the  Dictionary^  "  upon  examination  of  the  passages 
in  which  Elohim  occurs,  that  it  is  chiefly  in  places  where  God  is  exhibited  only 
in  the  plenitude  of  his  Power."  Rabbi  Y6h(idhi  Hall^vi  (12th  century)  said 
"idolaters  call  each  personified  Power  ^ddh,  and  all  collectively  Elohim." 
Qust  so  ;  and  that  is  what  the  Jews  did  too.]  "He  interpreted  Elohim  as  the 
most  general  name  of  the  deity,  distinguishing  him  as  manifested  in  the 
exhibition  of  his  Power."  Abarbanel  said  "  Elohim  conveys  the  idea  of  tlie 
impression  made  by  his  Power."  It  will  be  noted  here  that  Smith's  Dic- 
tionary's opinion  is  but  a  repetition  of  that  of  these  Jewish  Rabbis  ;  and  also 
that  the  plural  term  Elohim,  as  meaning  all  the  Eloahs,  would  be  thus  a 
straight  equivalent  of  Khabirim,  as  meaning  all  the  Powers,  all  the  moving 
activating  Forces,  all  the  Gods,  of  the  Universe- Machine. 

"  Doubtless,"  goes  on  Smith,  "  Elohim  is  used  in  many  cases  of  the  gods 
of  the  heathen,  who  included  in  the  same  title  the  ^od  of  the  Hebrews."  The 
Philistines  say  in  i  Samuel  iv,  8  :  "  who  shall  deliver  us  out  of  the  hand  of  these 
mighty  Elohim  "  [of  Israel]  ?  "  These  are  the  Elohim  that  smote  the  Egyptians 
with  all  manner  of  smiting.  The  English  here  has  **  gods  "  in  the  plural,  with 
a  small  g.  Why  the  small  g,  one  wonders  ?  In  i  Sam.  xxx,  1 5  the  "  young 
man  of  Egypt "  says  to  David  :  "  Swear  unto  me  by  the  Elohim  ths^t  thou  wilt 
not  kill  me."  Here  the  English  is  "  God."  Again  one  wonders  why  the  singular, 
and  the  big  G  ?  The  Syrians  said  "  Jehovah  is  an  Eloah  of  the  hills,  but  he 
is  not  an  Eloah  of  the  valleys  "  (i  Kings  xx,  28).  Here  again  we  have  "  god  " 
with  a  small  g.  King  Abimelech  remarks  to  Abraham  {Gen,  xxi,  23)  that  the 
Elohim  are  with  him,  Abraham,  in  all  that  he  does,  and  therefore  requires  him 
to  take  his  oath  by  the  Elohim.  The  Midianites  say  that  the  Elohim  delivered 
Midian  into  the  hands  of  Gideon  (Judges  vii,  14)  ;  and  in  a  strangest  passage  the 
sons  of  Heth  call  Abraham  a  prince  or  exalted-one  of  the  Elohim  (Gen,  xxiii,  6). 

*  Guignaut's  Creuzer,  ii,  872,  875,  882. 


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MyiksJ]  T/ie  Axis  as  Pillar.  ^97 

Joseph  tells  Pharaoh  {Gen.  xli,  16)  that  the  Elohim  will  give  him,  Pharaoh, 
a  reassuring  answer.  He  also  tells  his  own  brothers  (xlii,  18)  that  he  fears  the 
Elohim.  David  (i  Sam,  xxii,  3)  speaks  to  the  king  of  Moab  of  what  the 
Elohtm  will  do  for  him,  David.  All  these  cases  are  referred  to  in  Smith's 
Dictionary^  which  goes  on  to  state  :  "  That  Jehovah  is  identical  with  Elohtm, 
and  not  a  separate  being,  is  indicated  by  the  joint  use  of  Jehovah-Elohim." 
The  obvious  way  of  clarifying  this  statement  is  to  say  that  Jehovah  was  the 
proper  name  of  one  of  the,  of  the  chief  one  of  the,  many  Eloahs  who  were 
comprised  in  the  plural  Elohtm.  And  note  that  Jehovah  ends  like  Eloah  or 
Ash^rah  or  Ma^bhih. 

Capt.  Conder  mentions  a  solitary  pillar  in  the  middle  of  a  plain 
near  Beyrout  which  is  called  *Am(id  el-Ben^t,  column  of  the  girls. 
He  suggests  it  is  due  to  one  of  the  followers  of  Simeon  Stylites,  for 
"  it  is  difficult  to  see  with  what  other  object  solitary  pillars  are 
likely  to  have  been  erected  so  far  from  any  main  road  or  ruined 
town."^  If  the  views  put  forward  in  this  Inquiry  should  find  an 
echo,  there  will  be  little  difficulty  in  accounting  for  solitary  pillars. 

The  Stylitae  of  our  fifth  century  find  their  analogue  in  the  yogi 
of  Allahabad  who  was  said  in  1869  to  have  then  sat  for  some  fifty 
years  on  a  raised  stone  pedestal.  It  is  true  he  climbed  down  daily 
to  stretch  his  legs  and  bathe  in  the  Ganges.* 

As  to  oTv-Xoff,  see  the  heading  "  Magnus,**  where  (under  the  name  MeDousa) 
I  make  it  standing-stone  ;  Xos  being  =  Xay,  Xahs,  \aas,  stone.  (See  the  Stulos 
again  under  "  The  Tree  "  infra,) 

A  Russian  fairy-king  hides  his  children  in  or  upon  a  pillar  to 
remove  them  from  the  attacks  of  a  devouring  Bear  whose  fur  is  of 
iron.*     This  is  obviously  North-polar. 

The  earliest  written  account  of  St.  George  known  to  have  been 
circulated  in  Britain,  before  in  point  of  fact,  his  "  Merry  England  " 
was  as  yet  well  made,  is  in  the  Pilgrimage  of  Arculfus  to  the  Holy 
Land  circa  670.  It  contains  the  Pillar,  Spear,  divine  Horse,  Print 
in  a  stone,  and  so  forth : 

There  stands  in  a  house  in  DiosPolis  a  marble  pillar  to  which  George  was 
bound  and  scourged,  and  on  which  his  likeness  impressed  itself.  A  wicked 
man  rides  up  to  it  and  strikes  his  lance  against  the  picture,  and  the  iron  lance- 
head  enters  the  pillar  as  though  it  were  snow,  and  cannot  be  withdrawn  ; 
while  the  handle  breaks  off.  The  horse  also  falls  dead,  and  the  man  in  his 
tumble  catching  at  the  pillar,  his  ten  fingers  enter  it  as  though  it  were  clay, 
and  there  stick  fast.  On  prayer  and  repentance  he  is  however  released,  but  the 
finger-marks  "  appear  down  to  the  present  day  up  to  the  roots  in  the  marble 
pillar,  and  the  sainted  Arculf  put  into  their  place  his  own  ten  fingers  "  ;  and  the 

*  I/e/A  and  Moaby  p.  6.  •  Himalayas  and  Indian  Plains^  p.  88. 

»  Ralston's  Russ,  Folk-Tales ^  134. 


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1 


19^  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

"  horse's  blood  remains  indelible  on  the  pavement  down  to  our  times."  "  The 
sainted  Arculf  told  us  another  narrative,  as  to  which  there  is  no  doubt,  about 
the  same  George " ;  to  whose  pillar  a  horseman  rode  up,  commending  himself 
and  his  horse  to  George's  protection,  vowing  the  horse  to  George ;  and  the 
horse  became  rooted  to  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  the  pillar.* 
Here  we  clearly  have  a  lost  loadstone  legend  (see  p.  142),  and 
reminiscences  of  horse-sacrifice  also ;  and  compare  it  further  with 
Vishnu  issuing  from  the  Pillar  (p.  203  infra),  DiosPolis  was 
Lydda ;  and  see  what  is  said  about  Lydia  and  the  Magnet  (p. 
146).  It  is  needless  to  repeat  what  Gibbon  said  about  George  (of 
Cappadocia)  ;  but  there  need  be  little  doubt  that  this  George  is 
the  Jirjis  who  Moslems  say  was  the  Al-Khedr  or  Khizr  of  the 
Koran  (ch.  xviii),  and  who  was  a  transmigration  of  Elias  or  ElYah. 
See  the  famous  apologue  acted  by  Al-Khedr  in  the  chapter  men- 
tioned, and  so  well  used  by  Voltaire.  Allah  sent  Moses  to  find 
Al-Khedr  at  a  Rock  where  two  seas  met,  and  where  a  fish  took  to 
the  water.  The  station  of  Elias  or  George,  Makim  Iliy&s  (or  Khidr) 
is  marked  on  the  Ordnance  Map  of  the  Aksa  mosque  at  Jerusalem. 
There  are  numerous  Russian  legends  which  seem  to  separate  the  pair  Ilya 
and  Georgy,  Yury,  or  Yegory  the  Brave.'  Ilya  (Elijah)  has  in  these  his  flaming 
chariot,  succeeds  to  the  Slavonian  thunder-god  Perun  (see  p.  194),  and  destroys 
devils  with  his  stone-arrows  as  he  clatters  across  the  sky.  Georgy  destroys 
snakes  and  dragons,  and  the  wolf  is  his  Dog.  On  his  day  (in  spring)  there 
is  a  Green  Yegory  among  the  Slovenes,  like  our  Jack-in-the-Green. 
Of  course  we  have  (on  another  side)  a  supreme  antique  origin  for  St 
George's  Day  in  the  Athenian  pagan  calendar  which  put  the  feast  of  Zeus 
Ge6rgos  in  the  month  of  M^maktdrion  (Nov.-Dec).  A  Scythian  tribe  called 
themselves  Ge6rgoi ;  and  so  on. 

In  Welsh  legend  the  name  of  the  Spearsman  Peredur  /*a/adyr  Hir  (of  the 
long  pal  or  spear),  an  unmistakeable  Spear-axis  god,  is  often  associated  with 
his  brother  Gwrgi;'  and  both  are  sons  oi  Eli^tr  (more  anciently  ^/euther  son 
of  Gwrgwst)  with  the  great  following,  one  of  the  13  princes  of  the  North. 
Peredur  is  one  of  7  brothers,  and  Corvann  the  horse  of  the  sons  of  Elifler 
bears  only  Gwrgi  and  Peredur,  who  thus  resemble  a  sort  of  Castor  and  Pollux, 
and  both  became  Christian  Welsh  saints.  (Some  of  the  Welsh  mythic  names 
in  El  may  disclose  to  us  more  than  we  expect.) 


THE  OBELISK.  If  the  Menhir  be,  as  Capt.  Conder  con- 
siders,* the  ancestor  of  the  obelisk,  we  should  at  once  claim  all  such 
"  long  stones  "  or  rather  tall  stones  (menhirs),  as  symbols  of  the 
Universe-axis. 

1  Pal.  Pilgrims'  text  ?oc.  1889,  p.  57. 

»  Ralston's  Russ.  Folk-Tales  (an  invaluable  book)  337,  344. 

*  J.  Loth,  Les  Mabiftogion  (1889)  ii,  45,  46,  22a  *  Heth  and  Afoab,  p.  197. 


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Myths ?\  The  Axis  as  Pillar,  199 

At  Sicyon  a  pyramidal  stone  was  adored  under  the  name  of 
Zeus  Meilichios  (Paus.  ii,  9,  6).  Apollo  and  Artemis  had  in  many 
places  no  other  image  than  a  shorter  or  longer  stone  in  the  form  of 
a  pyramid  or  of  a  pillar.  Such  were  those  of  Artemis  Patroa,  also 
at  Sicyon,  and  of  Apollo  Karinos  in  the  gymnasium  of  M^gara 
{ibid,  i,  44,  2). 

The  obelisk,  te;^en  ^^^^  11  and  the  pyramid  seem  to  have  had 

an  original  connexion  in  symbolism,  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  inscriptions  of  the  5th  dynasty  cited  by  E.  de  Roug^,  which 
frequently  mention  sacred  monuments  of  this  figure :  which  • 
manifestly  combines  the  two.  I  would  here  remind  the  reader  mL 
that  the  obelisk  terminates  in  a  pyramid,  which  termination  or 
point  was  called  the  benben  in  Egyptian,  having  the  same 
signification  as  pyramidion  in  Greek.     The  benben  was  venerated 

in  a  temple  of  On  (properly  An   l|  ^ )  with  a  devotion  similar  to 

that  paid  to  the  Omphalos  in  the  temple  of  Delphi.  The 
Ethiopian  royal  conqueror  Piankhi  ascended  alone  to  the  benben 
chamber,  and  sealed  it  up  after  his  visit.*  This  recalls  the  phalli 
at  Hierapolis  and  the  pointed  cap  and  top  windows  of  the  Irish 
round-towers. 

Maspero*  gives  a  funereal  text  which  says  to  the  deceased  : 
Thou  penetratest  in  het-Benben  for  ever  during  the  feast  ij) ;  thou 
penetratest  in  the  chapel  during  the  happy  days,  for  thou  art 
the  "phoenix"  (bennu),  form  of  Ra.      This   temple   het-Benben 

01     J   . ,  or    J      J     1  cn3   or    H  H      was  thus  connected 


with  the  legend  of  the  bennu'*  and  seems  also  to  have  been  called 
het-Bennu  fl  ^^  (see  also  "  Divine  Birds  "). 

Although  the  most  ancient  existing  obelisk,  that  of  An, 
refers  itself  to  the  12th  dynasty,  the  inscriptions  which  E.  de 
Roug^  cited  seem  to  leave  no  doubt  that  they  were  extant  at  a 
much  earlier  period.  The  obelisks  that  we  know  were  in  pairs  at 
the  entrance  to  the  temples  (like  as  the  Indian  pillars  were)  in 
front  of  the  first  pyl6n,  the  Indian  torin  (see  "The  Dokana"), 
Mariette  Bey*  says  this  ancient  city  of  An  was  the  On  |i4  of 
Genesis  (see  also  p.  116),  the  Aven  of  Ezekiel,  and  the  Beth- 
Shemesh  of  Jeremiah :  it  is  the  Ullt  of  the  Copts  ;  and  its  Greek 

'  Bnigsch  :  Ifist.  of  Egypt  1879,  i,  129.  •  Pap,  du  Louvre ^  p.  50, 

•  J.  de  Roug^  :  G^og,  Anc,  1891,  81,  84.  *  Outlines  (by  Brodrick)  1890,  p.  17, 


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«oo  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [Axis 

name  Heliopolis  may  have  been  a  translation  of  Pa-Ra,  House  of  Ra 
^  9  0^-  Its  obelisk  was  put  up  by  ;^eper-ka-Ra-Usertsen  I.  of 
the  1 2th  dynasty  (3064  B.C.?).  The  name  An,  which  we  still  con- 
tinue to  hide  from  each  other  under  this  Greek  word  Heliopolis, 
means  simply  Pillar  ;^  and  Mr.  Flinders  Petrie  states*  that  the  very 
early  sculptures  at  Medum  teach  us  that  the  dn  was  then  (not  an 
obelisk  but)  an  octagonal  fluted  column  with  a  square  tenon  on 
the  top. 

Maspero  says  the  true  place  of  all  obelisks  was  in  front  of  the 
Colossi  on  each  side  of  the  main  entrance  of  the  temple  ;  but  Mr. 
Flinders  Petrie  says  that  at  Tanis  there  seems  to  have  been  a  close 
succession  of  obelisks  and  statues  along  the  main  avenue  leading  to 
the  temple,  without  the  usual  corresponding  pylons.  They  were 
ranged  in  pairs  :  two  obelisks,  two  statues  ;  then  two  more  obelisks 
and  two  shrines  ;  then  again  two  obelisks.'  "In  sober  truth,"  writes 
M.  Maspero,* "  the  obelisks  are  a  more  shapely  form  of  the  standing 
stone  or  menhir."  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  views  here  urged, 
though  of  course  the  general  theory  of  the  Inquiry  may  be  said  to 
prime  this  (to  me  indubitable)  analogy. 

Small  obelisks  about  3  feet  high  are  found  in  tombs  as  early  as 
the  4th  dynasty,  placed  right  and  left  of  the  stela,  that  is  on  either 
side  of  the  door  into  the  dwelling  of  the  dead.* 

The  primitive  Shdnars  of  Tinevelly  put  up  round  graves  or  shrines  a 
number  of  small  obelisks  on  which  they  believe  the  soul  or  divinity  perches,  for 
it  disdains  the  level  ground.*  This  is  a  novel  view  of  the  obelisk,  and  seems  a 
reminiscence  of  the  deity  at  the  summit  of  the  Universe-axis. 

From  the  22nd  dynasty  the  obelisk  fl  was  employed  as  the  ideoglyph  of 

the  word  tnetiy  stability,  and  is  used  for  that  syllable  in  the  name  of  the  great 
god  Amen,'  which  throws  doubt  upon  his  name  meaning  hidden,  mystic* 
[Note,  in  passing,  this  men  and  w^«hir.] 

The  following  words  seem  to  ask  for  comparison,  and  their  analogy  seems 
to  point  in  the  same  direction  as  the  theories  here  urged  as  to  the  pillar  and 
the  heavens-mountain  (Pierret,  Vocab,  183,  207,  208)  : 

O  ^  jl  obelisk  (Brugsch). 

obelisk,  archaic  form  (E.  de  Roug^). 


>fi 


*  Pierret's  Vocab,  pp.  n,  34,  73,  etc.  «  Academy  z^]9Xi,  189 1,  p.  95. 

*  Maspcro's  Egypt,  Arch,  (Edwards)  10 1  ;  Petrie's  Tcmis^  i. 

*  Maspero,  ibid,  loi,  103. 

*  **  Demonolatry,"  in  Contemp.  Rev.  xxvii,  373  (1875). 

*  Pierret,  Diet.  383,  35. 


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Myths?[  The  Axis  as  Pillar,  201 


\  or  ""^  ft  ^'*    ft  °^   H — ^°  ^^^*»  *^  ^^^^  *"  place. 


men  '^^^^ 

men  i j  the  heavens. 

men    •-— '  Qrf]   or  ili!:^  ^  ^=5  ^  mountain. 


OEI. :: 


^^  ij  i^^  S^    ^^    ^^^    or    (I    Q      mountain    valley,  mountainous 

region. 
Obelisks  were  actually  adored.  At  Kamak  (Thebes)  pious 
foundations  existed  in  honour  of  four  obelisks  to  which  loaves 
(conical,  no  doubt  ?)  and  libations  were  offered.  On  some  scarabs 
a  man  adoring  an  obelisk  is  found  engraved  in  a  ran  or  cartouche  : 
'  a  circumstance,"  said  de  Roug^  with  great  justice, 
'which  has  not  been  sufficiently  noticed."^  It 
becomes  a  leading  fact  for  me,  in  my  contentions  for  the  central 
supremacy  of  the  Axis,  and  its  representation  in  the  poles,  pillars, 
obelisks,  towers,  and  steeples  of  the  world  (see  also  p.  237  infra). 

Another  view  (which  is  here  also  always  kept  in  view  as  parallel  if  not 
coalescent)  was  favoured  by  de  Roug^,  who  pointed  out  that  "  a  comparative 
study  of  these  little  monuments  proves  that  the  obelisk  was  revered  because  it 
was  the  symbol  of  Amen  the  generator.  If  the  series  of  scarabs  displaying  this 
scene  be  compared,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  obelisk  passes  insensibly  from  its 
ordinary  form  to  that  of  the  phallus/**  M.  Pierret  adds  to  this  that  a  box  shaped 
like  an  obelisk  (Louvre)  contains  a  mummied  phallus.^ 

A  curious  use  of  the  obelisk  is  the  following  :  "figures  of  Osiris  in  gilt  wood 
have  their  backs  against  a  little  hollow  obelisk  in  which  are  found  the  remains 
of  a  small  embalmed  Saurian."' 


There  is  at  present  in  the  temple  of  Ammon  at  Thebes,  wrote 
Pausanias  (ix,  16)  a  hymn  composed  by  Pindar  inscribed  on  a 
triangular  pillar  near  the  altar  which  Ptolemy  the  son  of  Lagos 
dedicated  to  Ammon. 

The  single  or  the  double  column  appears  continually  in  the 
scenes  depicted  on  the  ancient  "monuments  of  Etruria."  For 
example  when  PoluDeuk^s  kills  Amukos  in  a  prizefight,*  an  Etrus- 
can mirror  shows  Poloces,  accoutred  for  fisticuffs,  standing  in  front 
of  the  naked  Amuces  similarly  armed,  and  seated  on  a  stone  near 
a  column.  Losna  (Diana  ?)  stands  by,  leaning  on  a  spear.  Other 
mirrors,  with  Casutru,  Pulutuke,  and  a  third  Cabirean  god  (Chalu- 

*  Pierret :  Diet  384.  «  Atude  des  monuments  de  Kamak, 

'  De  Roug^,  Notice  Sommaire,  p.  1 16.  ■•  Apoll.  Bibl,  i,  2a 


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202  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

chasu)  in  a  group,  show  sometimes  a  column,  sometimes  a  house 
(the  heavens-palace)  or  again  horizontal  bars  like  rungs  of  the 
Ladder,  in  the  background.*  An  amphora  of  Canosa  shows  behind 
Castor  and  Pollux  a  pair  of  columns,  supporting  each  a  tripod.* 
An  amphora  of  Vulci  shows  the  pair  with  their  mother  Leda 
between  two  columns.'  Yet  another  amphora  gives  the  twins  with 
a  single  column.* 

All  these,  as  it  seems  to  me,  serve  to  illustrate  also,  and  perhaps  account  for, 
the  oppressive  column  (with  its  drapery,  which  may  have  once  indicated  the 
Veil)  which  was  not  so  very  long  ago  an  inevitable  item  of  the  "  properties  "  in 
our  national  school  of  portrait-daubing.  And  this  gives  occasion  for  a  remark 
as  to  the  present  great  boom  in  "  mythology  from  the  monuments."  The  value 
of  this  line  of  illustration  is  of  course  indubitable  ;  but  it  has  its  weakness  and 
its  dangers.  In  building  theories  upon  these  scenes  from  tombs,  utensils,  and 
art-objects,  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  we  are  going  for  theology  to 
craftsmen  ;  and  besides,  that  a  great  portion  of  the  objects  belong  to  periods 
long  past  the  ages  of  fciith,  when  the  myths  were  getting  worn  out,  were  mori- 
bund. Look,  for  a  modem  example,  at  the  vile  and  fortuitous  agglomerations 
that  our  own  "  monumental  and  mortuary  masons  "  used  to  copy  and  re-copy 
in  the  near  past,  on  the  tops  of  the  tombstones. 


It  would  be  hard  to  meet  with  a  more  distinct  reference  to 
a  pillar-god  than  that  passage  of  the  RigVeda  which  in  striking 
terms  asks  the  question  :  "  Who  has  beheld  Him  who,  as  the  col- 
lective Pillar  of  heaven,  sustains  the  sky?  "  This  question  forms  the 
closing  refrain  of  two  successive  hymns  (Wilson  iii,  143,  144),  and 
there  should  be  coupled  with  it  another  fine  passage,  where  Mitra 
and  Varuna  are  addressed  as  "  you  two  who  are  sovereigns,  and 
uphold  together  a  mansion  of  a  thousand  columns.  The  substance 
is  of  gold  ;  its  pillars  are  of  iron  ;  and  it  shines  in  the  firmament 
like  lightning"  (iii,  348).  "  Royal  Mitra  and  Varuna,  you  uphold 
by  your  energies  earth  and  heaven  "  (347). 

The  only  thing  suggested  to  Wilson  the  translator  of  the  RigVeda  and 
his  scholiast  Sdyana  on  these  passages,  was  to  convert  the  mansion  into  a 
"  strong  chariot  of  the  deities,  supported  by  innumerable  columns,"  and  to  add 
the  trifling  reflection  that  "  the  expression  is  noticeable  as  indicating  the 
existence  of  stately  edifices."  Of  course  the  mansion  is  the  heavens-palace 
which  so  often  occupies  us  here. 

*  M.  Maurice  Albert,  Castor  et  Pollux,  1883,  pp.  $,  132,  135.  See  slso  Saglio'i 
Diet,  1,  771,  where  the  two  colamns  are  engraved. 

«  Castor  et  Pollux^  82,  127.  •  Brit.  Mus.  Catalogue,  Nos.  555,  562. 

4  Castellani  Collection,  Na  i6a 


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MythsJ]  The  Axis  as  Pillar.  203 

We  must  also  discern  the  Universe-pillar  in  the  fourth  avatar 
of  Vishnu,  when  he  suddenly  issued  forth  from  the  centre  of  a 
Pillar  (see  also  p.  237  infra)  in  the  form  of  the  NaraSinha  or  Man- 
lion — a  being  neither  god  nor  man  nor  animal,  but  partaking  of  all 
three — and  tore  in  pieces  the  demon-tyrant  Hiranya-Kasipu^ 
(golden-robe  ?)  king  of  the  Daityas,  who  had  blasphemed  by  asking 
if  Vishnu  was  present  in  a  stone-pillar  of  the  Hall,  at  the  same 
time  striking  it,  the  pillar-axis  of  the  universe,  with  impious  violence. 
This  affords  a  parallel  to  Osiris  in  the  tree-trunk,  and  the 
resemblance  to  the  legend  of  George,  p.  197  supra^  is  sufficiently 
amusing. 

Sir  W.  W.  Hunter,  speaking  of  Abul  FazFs  pillar  in  front  of 
the  Lion  gate  of  Jagann^th  at  Purf,  mentions  another  outside  a 
temple  at  Kendr^pdrA,  and  a  third,  sacred  to  Vishnu,  at  Jajpur 
Half-a-century  ago,  he  adds,  such  pillars  were  common  enough 
throughout  Orissa.  '*  They  resemble  the  Buddhist  LdtsJ'  The 
Chinese  pilgrim-traveller  Hiouen  Thsang  saw  at  Tamluk  a  pillar 
which  was  said  to  have  been  put  up  by  king  Asoka.* 

The  Thaqif  Arabs  girded  their  loins  of  obedience  to  the  idol 
Lat,»  and  Sale  said*  that  the  idol  Alldt  had  a  temple  at  Nakhlah 
where  it  was  destroyed  by  Al-Mogheirah  under  Mahomet's  orders 
in  the  9th  year  of  the  Hijra.  One  of  the  greater  signs  of  the 
Resurrection  will  be  the  reversion  of  the  Arabs  to  the  worship  of 
AlL^t  and  Al  Uzza.*  When  the  conquering  Moslems  got  to  India, 
they  found  at  SOmenat  "  an  idol  called  Lat  or  al  Lilt,"  which  was 
broken  with  his  own  hands  by  MahmOd  ibn  Sebecteghin.  It 
was  of  a  single  stone,  50  fathoms  high,  and  stood  in  the  centre 
of  a  temple  supported  by  56  pillars  of  massive  gold.*  This 
SCimenat  is  of  course  Somnath  Pattan  on  the  coast  of  Guzerat, 
the  temple  gates  of  which  were  taken  to  Ghazni  by  the  said 
MahmCid  on  his  destruction  of  the  temple  in  1025,  The  gates 
which  we  (per  General  Nott,  6th  September  1842)  took  at  Ghazni 
were  modern  frauds. 

Professor  W.  Robertson  Smith  says  that  al-L^t,  in  Mahomet's 
time  a  daughter  of  the  supreme  god,  was  earlier  the  mother  of  the 
gods  (which  is  what  is  here  observed  upon  continually  as  to  the 

*  Sir  M.  Williams,  Rel.  Thought  and  Life  in  India^  i,  109. 

*  Orissay  129,  266,  289,  309.        ■  Mirkhond*s  Rauzat-vs-Safa  1 89 1,  189. 

*  Kordn^  pp.  xiii,  Iviii. 

*  Persian  commentary  on  ICordn,  ch.  715  Sale's  J^ardn,  p.  xiv ;  Hyde's  Re/.  Vet. 
Pers.  p.  133. 


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204 


The  Ni^ht  of  the  Gods. 


[Axis 


rising  divine  generation  ousting  the  older — salus  est  adolescentulis). 
Her  image  at  T4if  was  a  4-square  white  rock  which  was  still 
pointed-out  in  Mahometan  times  below  the  mosque  ;  and  there  is 
now  a  mass  of  white  granite,  shattered  by  gunpowder  and  shape- 
less, lying  beyond  the  walls  below  the  great  mosque  to  the  S.W. 
The  names  al-L^t  and  al-Ozza  still  survive  for  this  rock  and  for 
the  summit  of  the  more  southerly  of  two  eminences  inside  the 
town.  At  Salkhat  De  Vogu6  found  a  square  stele  dedicated  to 
al-Lat.^  We  have  here  of  course  also  the  Alitta  of  Herodotus 
(i,  131).     See  also  Mylitta. 

AUat  is  called  the  Lady  of  the  Spear  in  the  Babylonian 
records.*  This  is  a  strange  and  unlooked-for  confirmation  of  my 
theories,   as   it   brings  together   the  \ki   and  the   spear,   both   of 

which  are  here  taken  to  be  axis-symbols. 
Saragossa  can  still  boast  of  the  famous 
Our  Lady  of  the  Pilar. 

"If  any  one  wished  to  select  one  feature  of 
Indian  Architecture  which  would  illustrate  its  rise 
and  progress,  as  well  as  its  perfection  and  weak- 
ness, there  are  probably  no  objects  more  suited 
for  this  purpose  than  the  Stambhas  or  free-stand- 
ing pillars.  They  are  found  of  all  ages,  from  the 
simple  and  monolithic  Ldts  [see  infray  *  Divine 
names  in  Lat-']  which  Asoka  set  up  to  bear  in- 
scriptions or  emblems  some  250  years  RC ,  down 
to  the  17th  or  perhaps  even  i8th  century  of  our 
era.  During  these  2,000  years  they  were  erected 
first  by  the  Buddhists,  then  by  the  Jains,  and 
occasionally  by  the  other  sects  in  all  parts  of 
India  ;  and  notwithstanding  their  inherent  frailty, 
some  50,  it  may  be  100,  are  known  to  be  still 
standing.  After  the  first  and  most  simple,  erected 
by  Asoka,  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  no  two 
are  alike  ;  though  all  bear  strongly  the  impress  of 
the  age  in  which  they  were  erected."* 

This  passage  from  Fergusson  is  of  impor- 
tance for  my  contentions  in  this  Inquiry, 
illustrating  as  it  does  the  very  ancient 
widespread  and  independent  nature  of 
Pillar-veneration.  We  must  decline,  how- 
ever, for  one  moment  to  admit  that  "  they 

*  Kinship  and  Marriage,  p.  292  etc. 
«  Dr.  E.  G.  Kirg's  Akkadian  Genesis  (1888),  p.  29. 
f^sj^t  *  Fergusson 's  hid.  Arch.  p.  277. 


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JHfyths,']  The  Axis  as  'Pillar.  205 

were  erected  first  by  the  Buddhists."  All-assimilating  Buddhism 
may  have  adopted  the  Pillar,  as  I  endeavour  to  show  in  Vol.  II 
that  it  adopted  the  Wheel. 

And  Fergusson  was  not  consistent  when  he  (p.  497)  developed 
an  antagonistic  theory  about  the  Ghazni  "Saracenic  Minars." 
"  They  are,  indeed,  pillars  of  victory  or  Jaya  stambhas,  like  those 
at  Chittore"  [which,  obiter,  is  a  vast  nine-storied  tower]  "and 
elsewhere  in  India,  and  are  such  as  we  might  expect  to  find  in  a 
country  so  long  Buddhist."  [I  confess  I  cannot  follow  up  a  con- 
nected line  of  thought  here.]  "  One  of  them  was  erected  by 
Mahmad  himself  (A,D.  977-1030)  "  [the  destroyer  of  the  Ldt !  ] ; 
"  the  other  was  built  or  at  least  finished  by  MasQd,  one  of  his 
immediate  successors  "  (/wr.  As.  Soc.  Bengal,  1843).  The  lower 
part  of  these  towers  is  an  ^/^A/-pointed  star  (see  "  The  Number 
Eight "  suprd)y  the  upper  circular.  They  are  of  brickwork,  about 
140  feet  high,  and  faced  with  terra-cotta  ornaments  of  extreme 
elaboration  and  beauty. 

"  Several  other  minars  are  found  further  West,  even  as  far  as 
the  roots  of  the  Caucasus,  which  like  these  were  pillars  of  victory 
erected  by  conquerors  on  their  battlefields." 

Here  a  far-reaching  theory  is  taken  for  granted  in  one  clause  of  a  sentence, 
and,  as  if  to  answer  himself  before  another  could  speak,  Fergusson  elsewhere 
(p.  56)  says  of  the  Surkh  Minar  and  Minar  Chakri  in  Cabul :  "  these  are  ascribed 
by  tradition  to  Alexander  the  Great,  though  they  are  evidently  Buddhist  monu- 
ments, meant  to  mark  some  sacred  spot,  or  to  commemorate  some  event,  the 
memory  of  which  has  passed  away." 

That  pillars,  standing-stones,  pierres  levies,  were  erected  on 
battle-fields  to  the  god  of  battles  (by  the  victors)  is  a  statement 
that  goes  of  itself,  without  telling.  But  the  manifest  and  primary 
reason  of  this  was  because  the  god  of  battles  was  the  supreme  god, 
whose  proper  monument — battle  or  no  battle — such  a  pillar  was. 
Take  for  a  late  example  the  two  enormous  stones  planted  in  862 
not  far  from  Arras,  near  the  sources  of  the  Scarpe,  by  Baudoin 
Bras-de-Fer,  first  Count  of  Flanders,  in  memory  of  his  victory  over 
Charles  the  Bald.  The  French  are  even  now  putting  up  a  similar 
thing  to  their  Francs-Tireurs  of  1870  near  Dijon.^ 
The  trophies  of  a  battle  lost  and  won  were  (see  "  The  Arcana  ") 
hung-up  on  the  field  on  an  upright  perch  or  a  pole  or  a  tree- 
trunk;  doubtless  as  offerings,  upon  his.  symbol,  to  this  supreme 
god  of  battles ;  or  a  standing-stone  on  the  battle-field  was  called 

^  Lt  Temps ^  1 2th  Nov.  1891. 


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2o6 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


[Axis 


a  trophy.  The  Greek  victors  used  even  to  lop  the  branches  off 
a  convenient  growing  tree,  in  order  to  get  their  (axis)  trunk,  or 
pole. 

There  is  in  the  Indian  Museum  at  South-Kensington  a  beau- 
teous model  of  the  Kutb  Minar,  at  Delhi,  in  cedar  and  ivory,  95 
inches  high  ;  which  gives  the  height  of  the  original  as  242  feet, 
its  base-diameter  at  49  feet  8  inches,  and  its  top-breadth  at  13 
feet.  It  is  the  most  beautiful  example  known  to  exist  anywhere. 
According  to  the  inscription  [which  might  have  been  put  on  at  any 
time  after  the  building]  this  minar  was 
built  by  Kutub-ud-din^  between  A.D.  1 196 
and  1235.  This  no  doubt  was  one — the 
latest — date  connected  with  the  Kutb 
Minar,  but  such  a  date  is  quite  valueless 
when  we  turn  to  the  22-foot  Iron  Pillar 
standing  (or  lying  ?)  near  it. 


3aoWt    97iuruLn^. 


jfr^Pc££a^. 


Sec  also  «•  The  North  "  in/ra. 


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Afy^As.] 


The  Axis  as  Pillar. 


207 


This  last  was  assigned  by  Prinsep  (again  according  to  its, 
undated,  inscription)  to  our  3rd  or  4th  century;  and  by  Bhan 
Daji,  on  the  same  evidence,  to  the  5th  or  6th  century. 
The  diameter  of  this  pillar  at  the  base  is  16*4  in.,  and  at  the  capital  12*05  i^^* 
This  bar  of  pure  malleable  iron  without  alloy  must,  at  the  inside,  have  been 
forged  15  centuries  ago  (Fergusson,  pp.  55,  120). 

As  the  inscription  informs  us,  this  iron  pillar  was  dedicated  to  Vishnu, 
which  is,  of  course,  destructive/^  se  of  Fergusson's  Buddhist  origin 
theory.  **  There  is  little  doubt,"  Fergusson  goes  on  (p.  509),  "  that 
it  originally  supported  a  figure  of  Garuda  "...."  but  the  real 
object  of  its  erection  was  as  a  pillar  of  victory  to  record  the  *  defeat 
of  the  Balhikas,  near  the  seven  mouths  of  the  Sindhu*  or  Indus." 
This  "  real  object "  need  not  blind  us  to  the  sacred  idea  of  the  heavens-bird 
at  the  sunmiit  of  the  Universe- Axis  (see  "  Divine  Birds  ").  We  also  find  that 
"the  Balhikas  "are  a  "riddle."  This  being  so,  and  taking  into  account  the 
"  Seven  mouths,"  we  shall  perhaps  not  be  far  wrong  in  theorising  a  supernal 
heavens-river  origin  for  this  "victory"  of  a  war-in-heaven. 
The  Brahmans  say  this  iron  pillar  goes  so  deep  that  it  pierces 
the  head  of  the  serpent-god  who  supports  the  Earth.*  In  reality 
it  is  only  20  inches  below  the  surface ;  but  the  legend  is  a 
Universe-axis  one,  and  parallels  that  of  the  Japanese  Kaname-ishi 
p.  192  supra,     I  also  give  an  outline  of  the  Surkh  Minar. 

It  will  not  have  escaped  notice  that 
these  minars  are  rather  towers  than  pillars 
— a  sort  of  steeples,  in  fact — and,  I  must 
now  refer  to  one  more  instance  in  Fer- 
gusson (p.  550)  which  he  says  "looks 
more  like  an  Irish  round-tower  than  any 
other  example  known,  though  it  is  most 
improbable  that  there  should  be  any 
connexion  between  the  two  forms."  I 
should  not  look  for  connexion  other  than 
a  relationship  in  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew 
saying :  "  We  are  all  of  Adam  and  of 
Noah."  "The  native  tradition  is  that  a 
saint  Peer  Asa  lived  like  Simeon  Stylites 
on  its  summit."  It  has  been  ascribed  (on , 
a  doubtful  inscription)  to  A.D.  1300,  a>ra. 
This  will  claim  notice  again  in  the  section 
on  Round  Towers. 


^  Himalayas  and  Indian  Plains^  p.  225. 


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2o8  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [A. 


xts 


In  Miss  Gordon-Cumming's  Himalayas  and  Indian  Plains  (to 
which  graphic  and  clear-seeing  book  I  am  indebted  for  some 
descriptions)  are  excellent  engravings^  of  the  above  mentioned 
Kutb  Minar  at  Delhi.  Miss  Gordon-Cumming  says  it  "  resembles 
a  Cyclopean  red  telescope,"  calls  it  the  most  gigantic  minaret  in  the 
world,  and  says  the  Hindis  assert  it  to  be  much  older  than  the  date 
of  the  Moslem  inscription  ;  the  carving  not  being  Moslem  but 
Brahmanic.  The  dioox  faces  the  Norths  too,  like  the  doors  of  Hind(i 
temples,  while  those  of  Indian  mosques  always  face  East,  in  order 
that  the  worshippers  may  look  West  to  Mecca.  As  to  the  name 
Kutb  Minar,  of  course  the  root  in  minaret  is  ndr,  fire,  from  ntir  to 
shine ;  and  Kutub  means  pole  or  axis  (see  **  The  North "  and  p. 
229  infra). 

In  Dr.  Schuchhardt's  recent  book  on  the  late  Dr.  Schliemann's 
excavations,*  it  is  stated  that  the  meaning  of  the  celebrated  Column 
between  the  two  rampant  lion  "  supporters  "  over  the  Northern  gate 
(it  looks  N.W.)  of  Mycenae  "is  not  yet  satisfactorily  explained." 
In  Phrygia,  Prof.  Ramsay  has  found  seven  similar  groups  of  two 
lions  and  a  Column* ;  one,  at  least,  over  the  door  of  a  rock  tomb. 
In  an  eighth  Phrygian  group  the  lions  place  their  fore  paws  against 
the  figure  of  a  goddess,  said  to  be  Cybel^.  On  a  carved  ivory 
handle  from  Menidi  has  been  found  what  might  be  a  close  copy  of 
the  group  over  the  Mycenae  gate.  There  is  thus  nothing  exclu- 
sively Mycenaean  about  the  symbolism,  and  of  course  my  suggestion 
here  about  the  Column  must  be  that  it  was  a  symbol  of  the  Axis. 
I  shall  just  add  that  the  two  Egyptian  gods  called  the  Rehehui,* 
<=>  i  i  ^  W  ^  ^  are  also  called  "  Two  Lions  "  :^  i?  ^  |  and  Shu 
(Atlas  the  axis-god)  and  Tefnut  (his  consort  ?  see  p.  164)  are  so 
represented  also. 


I  beg  the  Reader  to  bear  in  mind  the  connexion  perpetually 
dwelt-on  in  these  pages  between  the  Pal,  the  Pole,  and  the  Pillar. 

*  Himalayas  and  Indian  Plains y  pp.  221,  222,  227. 

*  "Translated  by  Eugenie  Sellers,"  1891,  p.  142. 
»  four.  Hell.  Soc.  iii,  18,  242,  256. 

*  Pierret's  Diet.  s.v. 


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Myths!\  Divine  Names  in  Lat-,  209 


16. — Divine  Names  in  Lat-. 

IT  seems  natural  to  start  with  Lat-ium  and  Lat-inuSy  which 
seem  to  be  adjectival  forms  from  lat,  which  I  sujg^gest  in  limine 
is  the  Greek  \aa^  Xa?  and  the  Indian  l«lt,  a  stone-pillar. 

Latium^  •*  etymology  unknown."  Saturn  fled  there  for 
sanctuary  from  his  son  Jupiter,  which  is  like  Orestes  flying  for 
refuge  to  the  Omphalos,  and  is  qqite  consistent  with  the  sacred 
stone  explanation.  "Z<i/iaris  or  i^/ialis  Sancte  Jyppiter"  (Lucan, 
i,  198)  was  34crifiged-to  with  one  annual  man  on  Mons  Alba  (the 
white  heav^ns-mouutain),  his  feast  was  called  /a/iar  or  feriae 
Z/7/inap.  Z^/ialp  caput,  >vas  the  head  of  a  statue  of  Jupiter 
(Lucan,  i,  535).  This  ought  really  to  have  been  a  mere  upright 
stone  with  a  human  hea^  on  the  top  (see  infra  under  "The 
Tree,"  as  to  the  stulos).  The  latiar  was  invented  by  Tarquinus 
Superbus,  the  Supreme  Turner  (of  the  he^ven3)  and  was  there- 
fore naturally  common  to  the  Latins,  Romans,  Hernicj,  and 
Volscians. 

LafiXiMs  the  king,  that  is  the  god  of  La1\wm  was,  according  to 
Virgil,  son  of  Faunus  (which  see)  and  Marica.  Serviu3  confounded 
her  with  Venus,  a?  a  sea-nymph  or  goddess  ;  and  JL^ctantius 
(i,  21),  who  perhaps  found  her  name  inconvenient,  said  she  was 
Circe,  deified  ^fter  death !  iEneas  (in  his  own  (country  Alvia^  and 
Kiveiasi)  cut-out  Turnus,  and  so  married  Lavinia  the  daughter  of 
Latinus.  Turnus  was  king  of  the  Rutuli,  and  we  must  read  that 
as  a  revolving-heavens  god  (tornus  rqpvo^  a  Jathe,  a  turner's  wheel) 
chief  of  the  wheel-deities  (?).  Turnus  cast  an  enorniou3  terminal 
stone  (axig-pilUr)  at  ^neas  before  he  was  killed  by  the  Trojan's 
sword  ;  ^nd  he  had  previously  killed  PalLas  the  a^is-stone  giant 
Another  version  (in  Photius)  makes  Hercules  kill  Turnus.  We  are 
therefore  right  in  the  very  middle  of  a  War-in-heaven.  Yet 
another  legend  made  Latinus  wed  Roma,  found  Rome,  and  become 
the  father  of  Romulus  and  Remus.  Again  he  was  son  of  Circe 
and  Ulysses,  married  Rem6  and  begat  the  same  twins.  All  these 
have  bits  of  the  true  myth  in  them. 
See  the  curious  statement  made  by  Festus^  that  the  rex  Latinus, 

*  S.  V.  Oscillantes.  *'  ....  nusquam  apparuerit,  judicatusque  sit  Jupiter  factus 
Latiaris." 

O 


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2IO  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

in  his  fight  with  MeDientius  rex  of  Caere  (see  p.  144  supra), 
the  contemner  of  the  gods,  disappeared,  and  was  considered  to 
have  become  Jupiter  Latiaris.  (Compare  with  the  other  fighting 
rex  on  p.  H4.)  Here  is  a  most  obviously  clear  case,  as  I  should 
contend,  for  the  recognition  by  the  Romans  themselves  that  this 
LaurentisLti  rex  was  a  Lat-god.  And  here  too  we  get  the  (laurel) 
Tree  and  the  Pillar  together  in  the  archaic  sacred  names.  The 
mythic  Roman  rex  was  (I  say)  a  ruling-god,  and  the  rex-priests 
were  the  priests  of  the  rex-god,  and  retained  his  title.     But 

Latagus  seems  to  be  a  doublet  of  Latinus.     He  was  crushed 

under  a  vast  stone  ("  none  but  himself  can  be  his  " )  by  the 

same  MeDientius  the  contemptor  Divum  ;  which  fate  seems  to  be 
only  "  another  account "  of  that  of  Latinus.  See  also  Lateragus 
lower  down.  Lopping  off  the  adjectival  ending,  we  should  then 
have  Latin,  LatAg  and  LaterAg,  which  I  must  leave  so,  for  the 
present. 

LatMos,  the  famous  rendezvous  of  the  moon  and  Endymion, 
thus  becomes  the  Lat-Mountain,  simply  (jjlo^  =  mons). 

latomns  and  Xaroiio^  meant  a  stone-cutter,  which  helps  us  some- 
what on  the  way. 

Z/j/ona .  (ancient  form  Latonas).  It  is  to  be  observed  that 
Latinus  had  no  Latina  to  complete  his  duality ;  and  we  are  there- 
fore to  conclude,  it  would  seem,  that  Latona  takes  that  place  in  the 
nomenclature.  She  was  mother  of  Apollo  and  Diana.  The  Greek 
Xaria  or  Karoav  or  A^t®  was  (in  Hesiod)  daughter  to  Phoib^  and 
the  Titan  Koto9  (who  is  both  Ceus  and  Cceus  in  the  Latin)  son  of 
Ouranos  and  G^.^ 

Latd's  mother  was  *ot)9i7  sister  of  Kolos,  and  clearly  a  dual- 
goddess  with  *ot^o9 ;  and  Latd  had  a  sister  named  Asteria  or 
Asterifi  (one  of  the  mothers  of  H^rakl^s)  who  is  otherwise  the 
daughter  of  Polos  and  Phoib^,  which  equates  Lat6's  father  Kolos 
with  Polos  the  polar  deity.  Kolos  is  of  course  the  hollow 
heavens.  Where  Asterifi  fell  in  the  Ocean,  there  arose  an  island, 
called  Ddos  (or  Asterid  or  Ortugia,  see  p.  32).  But  Homer  made 
Kronos  the  father  of  Latd — it  is  all  in  the  family.  Zeus  having 
taken  too  much  notice  of  Lat6,  H^ra  created  the  Python  serpent 
to  torment  her.  This  may  have  an  important  bearing  on  the 
serpent  curled-on  round  the  axis-rod  of  Hermes.     She  took  refuge 

>  Apoll.  Bibl.  i,  I,  3. 


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MythsJ]  Divine  Names  in  Lat-.  211 

in  the  island  D6I0S  ;  and  there,  at  the  Olive-tree  of  the  Universe, 
gave  birth  to  Artemis  and  Apollo. 

loHces  (latex).  The  sacred  term  Palladii  latices,  for  oil,  becomes  clear 
only  when  we  recollect  and  conjoin  the  ritualistic  smearing  of  lats  or  stones. 
A  similar  explanation  may  be  suggested  for 

latctccy  the  magic  herb  which  made  abimdance  where  it  grew  (Pliny  xxvi, 
4,9). 

kUeo,  I  know  not  whether  it  is  to  consider  too  curiously  to  surmise  that 
lateo,  to  lie  hid,  to  be  secret,  unknown,  may  have  something  to  do  with  the 
latent  god,  the  deus  absconditus  of  the  animated  divine  stone,  the  b^th-fel,  the 
lit 

LatobiuSy  "  the  name  of  an  almost  unknown  divinity  "  (Jnscrip. 
Orell,  No.  2019)  will  perhaps  now  be  less  foreign  to  us.  These 
few  brief  particulars  must  not  leave  unmentioned 

later^  a  brick  and 

Later  anus y  the  hearth-god,  also  Lateragus  (very  like  Latagus  ?) 
and  Laterculus ;  whence  eventually  the  Lateran  habitation  of  the 
Pope. 

The  connexion  between  later  and  Lar  is  here  indubitable ;  and,  when  we 
recall  \as  =  stone,  it  is  made  even  more  significant  by  the  form  Loses  for  Lcax'^ 
in  the  Arvalian  hymns.  Can  this  Las  be  Xof,  a  stone ;  and  L^  be  s:  later,  a 
brick  ?  The  images  of  the  Lares  would  thus  be  "  terra-cotta,"  as  it  were ;  and 
perhaps  the  sacred  forerunners  of  our  fire-dogs  or  chen^ts  ?  Ovid  in  the  Fasti 
gave  the  dog  as  an  adjunct  of  the  Lares,  and  said  they  were  covered  with  dog- 
skins. Plautus  said  they  were  anciently  represented  in  the  shape  of  dogs. 
The  eldest  male  of  an  Etruscan  family  was  c^led  the  Lar  or  Lars,  and  the 
second  Aruns  (Etruscan,  aruth  ;  Greek,  ^p/jcov  or  dppows).  The  youngest  son 
of  Tarquinus  Superbus  (the  Supreme  Twiqter  of  the  heavens)  was  called  Aruns, 
and  Aruns  was  a  diviner  (a  rhabdomancer  ?).  It  must  belong  to  arundo  or 
harundo,  a  reed  rod  flute,  and  ipfnjv  male. 

PoluPh^mos,  son  of  EiLatos  or  E'-Latos,  was  the  youngest  of  the 
Lapithoi  who  armed  against  the  Centaurs,  and  came  from  Z^rissa.^ 
He  was  an  Argonaut.  Elatos  was  son  of  Arkas  and  Proso-peleia 
(or  Chruso-peleia  or  Lea-neira  or  Mega-neira).*  From  Elatos  and 
his  brother  Apheidas  came  the  Arkadians. 

The  Indian  locality  Li/a  is  also  called  L&r,  and  is  the  Adpiiaj  of  Ptolemy 
(Dowson's  Hif^tu  Mythology ^  2nd  ed.  p.  177).  But  this  is  not  the  place  to  turn 
aside  to  the  L^es. 

l&t  The  lits  of  India  and  the  goddess  al-L^t  have  been 
already  dealt-with  (p.  203), 

[See  also  Pa/a/ia,  pa/^i/inus,  pa/^i/ium,  Pa/^;/o,  Pa/aAia,  under  '^Divine 
Names  in  Pal-"  ;  and  DoruLas  and  DoruLaion  under  "Divine  Names  in  Dor-." 
AtLas  too,  which  will  be  fully  discussed  under  "  The  Heavens- Mountain,"  I 

»  4rg^nqutik^,  J,  4|,  ?  Char6n,>tf^.  13 ;  AppU.  Bihl  iii,  9,  l. 

O   2 


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212  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  \Axis 

regard  as  farthest-stone,  because  of  the  Sanskrit  dt  further.  This  makes  AtLas 
a  doubtlet  of  TaLaos,  p.  133,  and  gives  us  at  once  the  tall-stone  on  the  heavens- 
mountain  summit,  the  pillar-stone  that  AtLas  was  at  the  limit?  of  the  Universe 
he  upheld.* 


As  to  the  material  of  the  Palladium^  a  word  formed  from  PalLas, 
I  must  emphasize  what  was  stated  on  p.  48  as  to  the  **  bones  of 
Pelops."*  And  the  true  clue  to  the  material  is,  it  now  seems  to  me, 
to  be  found  (not  in  "  images  of  bone  or  ivory,"  but)  at  p,  107  supra 
in  the  natural-magnet  or  the  star-stone,  a-iSf]plTi^  XiOo^y  the  actual 
substance  which  Plutarch'  reported  Manethon  to  have  said  was 
called  the  bones  of  Horus,  an  expression  which  must  here  be 
equated  with  the  bones  of  Pelops.  The  Palladium  fell  from  the 
heavens,  and  was  thus  a  star-stone ;  and  the  syllable  Xa?  in  its 
name  (see  p,  48)  thus  exhibits  its  accord  with  ySBo^  ;  and  thus  too 
this  **  bones  "  myth  upholds  ipy  assertion  that  PalLas  contains  the 
word  Xa9,  a  stone.  Note  once  more  too  (referring  en  passant  to 
PalLas  =^  loDama,  p.  181)  that  the  Palladium  actually  held  a 
spear  or  pal  {iopv) ;  and  add-on  that  Phylarchos  said  there  were 
many  other  palladia  flung-down  in  the  cosmic  war  of  the  Giants : 
KaX  T&v  Karevrjveyfiivcov  iv  t§  TiydpTODv  ft^XJ?.*  And  of  course  these 
wer^  therefore  the  rocks  or  meteorites  heaved  at  each  other  by  the 
said  giants  and  the  gods. 

It  is  odd  that  this  about  the  '  bones  of  Pelops "  is  the  only 
statement  as  to  the  material  (which  the  word  itself  would  there- 
fore hav^  once  sufficiently  conveyed  to  the  ear?).  In  Apollo(Joros* 
the  palladium  is  an  idol,  riyi^.  Pherecydes  (repeated  by 
Phylarchos)  called  it  a  marvel,  ayaXfia  (conventionally,  image).* 
Dionysius  of  FJalicarnassus,^  citing  Kallistratos,  called  it  a  ^09, 
seat  or  see  of  a  god  (/>.  ston^-statue,  a  sort  of  b^th-6l  ?)  and  also  an 
elK(ov  or  image  ;  but  never  another  word  from  any  of  these  to  hint 
at  the  material,  which  material  I  now  diagnose  as  having  been 
star-stone  (as  above),  that  is  an  aerolite, 

1  Od3rssey  i,  52, 

*  In  addition  to  the  authorities  quoted  on  p.  48,  see  Scholiast  on  Hitul  iv,  92  \ 
Tzetzes  ad  Lye  53,  911,  Posthom.  575  ;  Pausanias  v,  13,  5  ;  Wclckcr,  CycL  p.  79, 

*  De  Js,  et  Os.  c  62.  *  Didot*s  Fra^,  Hist.  Grac.  i,  356. 

*  BibL  iii,  12,  3,  •  Didot,  ut  sup,  i,  95,  356.  7  /^  „,  355^  35$. 


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Myths.] 


The  Tat  of  Ptah. 


«i3 


17.— The  Tat  of  Ptah.— The  Tee  and  Umbrella. 

THE  supreme  central  Egyptian  god  Ptah  J  ^  ^  about  whom 
so  much  will  be  said  in  the  course  of  this  Inquiry,  is  repre- 
sented as  a  mummy  grasping  the  ankh  nr 
which  is  viewed  as  the  "symbol  of  life," 
the  uas  sceptre  V  and  the  tat  U  or  "  symbol 

of  stability,"  which   I   would  identify  with 
the  Pillar  of  the  Universe. 

This  t^t  is  the  habitual  ensign  of  Ptah, 
and  was  hung  as  an  amulet  round  the  necks 
of  the  gods,  divine  animals,  and  devout 
human     beings.       It    is    found    with    that 

mysterious  talisman  the  thai  A,  whose  name 

is  written  \  ^,  in  the  hands  of  large  funereal 

statuettes. 

The  tat  is  sometimes  seen  two-armed,  and  extending  its  two 
outspread  arm-wings  as  a  sign  of  protection,  as  in  the  bottom 
of  a  coffin  of  Shutem^s  the  Librarian.^  Here  we  seem  to  have 
the  winged  axis  as  a  form  of  the  winged  oak  of  Zeus,  that  is  the 
Universe-tree.  On  the  same  coffin,  the  tat  again  appears  accom- 
panied by  the  "4  funereal  genii  who  presided  at  the  preservation  of 
the  intestines."  It  is  more  to  the  point  to  call  them  here  the  genii 
or  gods  of  the  4  cardinal  directions,  as  they  were  (see  p.  1 59  supra). 
Their  position  round  the  central  tat-axis  is  then  only  natural. 

Ptah  was  imaged  as  a  pillar  beginning  in  the  lowest  and 
ending  in  the  highest  heaven.  On  a  post,  on  which  is  graven  a 
human  countenance,  stands  the  Tat-pillar,  the  symbol  of  durability 
and  immutability,  made  up  of  a  kind  of  superimposed  capitals. 
On  the  top  are  the  ram's-horns,  the  sun  [which  is  here  considered 
as  the  Sphere],  the  uraeus-adders  [that  is  the  ^riret],  the  double- 
feather;  all  emblems  of  light  and  of  sovereignty,  which  in  Prof. 


'  De  Roug^  :  Notice  sommaire^  105,  106,  68. 


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214 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


[Axis 


Tide's  judgement  must  have  been  intended  to  represent  the  highest 
heavens.^ 

In  the  hieroglyphs,  said  De  Roug^,  the  tat  "designates  stability 
by  the  summit  (faite)  and  probably  the  pleroma,  that  is  to  say  the 
final  and  perfect  end  to  which  the  soul  ought  to  attain  by  the 
imitation  of  Osiris."  This  is  noteworthy  if  compared  with  what 
will  be  said  later  on  of  the  omphalos  and  nirvana.  I  think  the 
column,  whole  or  broken,  which  is  still  reproduced  by  stonecutters 
for  our  graveyards,  and  which  was  common  on  Belgo-Roman 
tombs,*  must  range  itself  in  the  tat  symbology. 

The  tat  serves,  in  paintings  of  mummies,  as  a  pillar  to  chapels 
holding  images  of  the  gods,  and  even  seems  to  afford  support  to 
the  divine  statues  behind  which  it  is  shown.'  It  supports  the  ren 
or  cartouche  of  Ramses  VIII.  Some  little  porcelain  monuments 
show  the  god  Nefer-Atmu  (Ptah's  son)  by  the  side  of  his  mother 
Se^et,  both  with  their  backs  to  a  pillar. 

[The  reader  is  requested  to  refer  to  what  is  said  later  regarding  the  pillar- 
statues  of  Terminus,  and  Dulaure's  overturned  theory  of  boundary  pillars.] 

It  was  the  Rosetta-stone*  that  first  gave  us,  on  the  Greek  side, 
the  sense  of  stability  and  lastingness  (Scafievovtrrj^  l!  H  ^  t^tt^t  tu) 
for  the  ^.  The  Hindft  priests  anciently  made  a  circle  round  the 
udambara  sacrificial  post,  and  touched  it 
muttering  the  mantra :  "  Here  is  stability, 
here  is  our  own  stability."*  (See  also  p.  219 
in/ra,) 

In  the  Peremhru  ("Book  of  the  Dead")  the 
tat  is  constantly  mentioned  in  connexion  with 
Osiris.  Ptah-Osiris  as  "dweller  in  Amenti" 
is  hatted,  in  the  second  and  third  figures  I 
here  g^ve  (pp.  214  and  217)  with  the  summit, 
with  the  4  stages,  of  the  tat,  which  are  again 
surmounted  by  the  2-feathered  sphere  (see 
the  section  on  "  Feathers  ").  The  god  him- 
self thus  permutes  with  the  lower,  the  pillar, 
portion  of  the  t^t,  which  for  me  indicates  a 
pillar-axis   god,   an   Atlas.      Note  too    the 

>  Tide's  Hist,  of  Egypt,  Rel.  46,  47. 

'  Vanderkindere,  Hist,  Beig,  cm  tnoyen  age^  1890,  p.  99. 

»  Pierret's  Diet,  p.  53a 

*  line  5  (36)  again  in  line  9,  without  Greek. 

•  Eggeling*s  ScUa/aiha-Brdhmanaj  ii,  454. 


rfgg:,crj?r  7^  ^rju  i  V4Ugg 


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Myths?[  The  Tat  of  PtaL  215 

identification,  the  coalescence  of  the  uas  sceptre  and  the  tat,  and 
their  upright  position  in  the  first  figure,  and  then  refer  back  to  the 
section  on  **  The  Rod,"  p.  57. 

A  fimereal  MS.  whose  contents  "belong  to  no  known  composition" 
(Louvre  V,  46,  3279)  makes  the  defunct  claim  to  be  equal  with  Ptah  :  "  I  am 
that  which  bears  the  heavens  with  Ptah."  This  is  said  in  addition  to  the 
common  tombstone-boast  for  the  dead  "  I  have  become  an  (that  is,  one  with) 
Osiris."* 


I  also  direct  particular  attention  to  the  Single  Leg  in  both 
these  figures,  which  has  been  explained  as  being  the  two  limbs  of 
a  mummy  enwrapped  together  in  the  cerement  This  is  a  con- 
jecture, however,  which  is  unsatisfying,  and  does  not  accord  with 
the  Facing-both-ways  attitude  of  the  figure  on  p.  214.  (Note,  by 
the  way,  that  if  he  be  in  the  South  looking  North,  his  toe  points 
West) 

In  the  wanderings  of  the  Welsh  Owein,  he  comes  to  a  large 
open  clearing  with  a  mound  in  the  middle.  On  the  mound  is  a 
black  giant  with  only  one  foot,  and  only  one  eye  in  the  middle  of 
his  forehead.*  In  the  Kulhwch  legend  one  of  Arthur's  courtiers 
stands  all  day  on  one  foot,'  which  Professor  Rh^s  seems  to  deride 
as  an  idle  item ;  but  I  hope  to  show  here  that  it  is  not  altogether 
a  laughing  matter. 

Pausanias  (vi,  25)  thus  mentioned  the  brazen  statue  of  a  god  in 
the  city  of  Elis  :  **  one  of  its  feet  is  enfolded  with  the  other,  and  it 
leans  with  both  its  hands  on  a  spear  .  •  .  They  say  that  this 
is  a  statue  of  Poseid6n  .  .  .  they  call  it,  however,  Satrap^s 
and  not  Poseiddn  ;  and  Satrap^s  is  a  name  of  Korubas  (Corybas)." 
There  may  be  here  a  possible  connexion  of  this  statue  of  a 
forgotten  god,  of  a  deus  ignotus  (see  p.  18),  with  the  central 
heavens-deity,  as  depicted  in  Ptah. 

De  Groot*  gives  a  full  account  of  the  festival  and  pilgrimages 
at  Amoy  to  Keh-sing-6ng  =  Kwoh  sing  wang  ||5  IS  i»  a 
deity  with  one  hanging  leg,  who  was  found  dead  on  a  tree  on  the 
top  of  a  mountain.  Another  legend  says  he  was  ascending,  seated 
crosslegged,  into  the  heavens,  when  his  mother,  catching  him  by 
one  foot,  '*  pulled  his  leg,"  which  therefore  remained  pendant  He 
also  appears  as  a  white-eyed  white  horseman,  with  a  white  flag, 

*  Deveria  :  Catalogue  (1881),  pp.  162,  163. 

*  Prof.  Rh^ :  Arthurian  Legend  (1S91)  92,  5  ;  Loth's  Mabinogion  (1889)  ii,  8,  10. 
»  Fites  (TEmcui^  1886,  518,  523,  524. 


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3t6  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 


on  a  white  horse.  This  is  celestial.  His  legend  (like  Ptah's  too, 
curiously  enough ;  and  compare  FitzGerald's  Omar  Khayydmy 
1879,  p.  21  etc.)  also  contains  a  potter,  and  the  kneading  of  human 
figures  out  of  clay — a  practice  still  continued  in  his  worship,  With 
figurines.  There  is  also  an  enchanted  spinning-wheel  that  makes 
a  river  overflow,  and  the  same  potter  stops  the  inundation.  All 
this  is  cosmic. 

The  Chinese  shan-sao  or  mountain-elves  have  but  one  leg.  The  fabulous 
one-legged  bird  siongi6ng  presages  rain  in  the  K'ea  Yu  or  Familiar  Talks  of 
Confucius  (chap.  2),  where  a  boy  dancing  oti  one  leg  as  a  charm  to  bring  rain  is 
also  mentioned.  A  one-  but  long-legged,  dmall-headed,  paper-bird  is  now 
paraded  on  the  point  of  a  stick  about  Amoy  in  processions  for  rain.* 

But  the  chief  parallel  here — as  useful  for  my  purposes  as  if  it 
had  been  invented  to  order — is  in  the  Bhdgavata-purana,  where 
Dhruva,  the  Polestar  deity,  meditating  on  Brahma,  stood  on  a 
single  foot,  motionless  as  a  post ;  and  while  he  did  so,  half  the 
earth,  wounded  by  his  great  toe,  bent-over  under  his  weight,  like  a 
boat  which,  bearing  a  vigorous  elephant,  leans  at  each  step  he 
makes,  to  the  left  or  to  the  right.* 

Is  this  a  confused  explanation  of  the  inclination  of  the  axis  ?  See  also  p.  35^ 
supra.  It  is  passing  strange  that  one  comer  of  Keh-Sing's  temple  is  always  in 
decay  (De  Groot,  p.  525). 

A  manifest  doublet  of  this  is  another  legend  that  the  rishi  Atri  (=£ 
Tusk,  Tooth,  compare  p.  1 50)  stood  for  a  hundred  years  on  dne 
foot  living  oti  the  air.* 

In  Russian  myth  the  evil  Verlioka  is  only  foUnd,  said  Mf. 
Ralston,'  in  one  solitary  story.  He  is  of  vast  stature,  one-eyed, 
crook-nosed,  bristly-headed,  with  tahgled  beard,  and  motistaches 
half  an  ell  long,  and  with  a  wooden  boot  on  his  one  foot ;  support- 
ing himself  on  a  crutch,  and  giving  vent  to  a  terrible  laughter. 

See  also  what  is  stated  infra,  at  p.  230,  as  to  the  Jerusalem 
Jews  now  praying  standing  on  one  leg  on  their  housetops.  On  one 
of  the  cards  of  the  French  tarot-pack,  called  Le  Pendu,  a  man  hangs 
head-downwards  by  his  left  leg.  (But  this  position  would  indicate 
antipodean  infemality  ?) 

I  thus  identify  the  One  Leg  of  all  these  Egyptian,  Chinese, 
Welsh,  Greek,  Indian,  Russian,  and  Jewish  gods  and  godlings  with 
the  One  Foot  on  which  the  Japanese  heavens-palace  is  raised,  and 
the  Irish  island  is  supported  (p.  225  infra),  that  is  with  the  Universe- 

»  Fetes  (tEmtmi,  1886,  70,  518.        *  Bumoufs  Bhag.-pur,  iv,  i,  19 ;  8,  76  and  79. 
»  Rms.  Folk-Tales,  162. 


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Afyths?^ 


The   ^at  of  Ptah. 


217 


Axis  which  is  also  symbolised  by  the  tat. 
at  sugar?" 


And  "  now  who  laughs 


I  must  draw  attention  also  to  another  figure 
of  Ptah-Osiris  (?)  which,  while  giving  the  attri- 
butes of  the  stiff  Egyptian  style  also  exhibits  to 
lis  a  more  primitive  Ethiopian  (?)  character  in  the 
face  and  dress.  The  robe  seems  to  be  in  strips,^ 
and  would  thus,  in  religious  dancing,  **  balloon-** 
out  like  the  petticoats  of  the  Mevlevi  dervishes. 

I  think  too  that  the  Spear  (as  well  as  the 
uas  sceptre,  p.  57)  may  be  connected  with 
lotah's  symbol  of  stability  in  this  way : 
M.  L^on  Heuzey*  remarks  on  four  Assyrian  statuettes 
in  the  Louvre,  that  they  are  examples  of  a  personage 
resembling  the  colossus  carved  between  the  doors  of 
the  Khorsabad  palace ;  but  instead  of  strangling  a 
lion,  this  terfa-cotta  figurette  leans  its  open  hands 
against  the  staff  of  a  stout  weapon — pike,  lance, 
or  spear — which  stands  erect  in  front.  One  of  these 
examples  gives  the  iron  (?)  head  of  the  weapon.  The 
same  deity  in  the  self-same  attitude  is  to  be  seen  in  low 
relief  in  the  British  Museum  where  "the  open  hands  do  but  touch  the  lance, 
which  seems  planted  in  the  ground  or  upheld  and  balanced  by  some  super- 
natural force*  We  may  surmise  a  gesture  of  adoration  before  a  sacred  weapon, 
or  a  legendary  incident  referable  to  a  marvellous  lance."  These  are  M.  Heuze/s 
comments,  and  they  seem  to  me  to  point  to  the  Universe- Axis  as  the  ta^  of 
Ptah,  the  shadowless  lance  of  Alexander,  and  the  ddpv  of  Kronos  as  herein- 
before and  now  expounded 

The  Welsh  Peredur  Pal^Ayx  Hir,  the  Spearsman  of  the  long 
Pal,  stands  and  remains  plunged  in  deepest  meditation  leaning 
against  the  pal  of  his  spear.* 

The  town  that  the  Greeks  called  Mendes  was  called  by  the  Egyp- 
tians paBa-neb-Tat  ^  1^  ^^:ZP  ff  "  abode  of  the  Soul  (or  Ram)  lord 
of  Tat"*  Without  the  pa  (which  also  means  town)  it  is  also  written 
^5J  ^  f    ©    •     Mendes  also  had  another  name  which  is  differently 

^  Shall  I  be  travelling  out  of  the  way  here,  if  I  direct  attention  to  the  Roman  robes 
bearing  the  stripe  (cUvus,  latus  or  angustus)  which  seems  to  be  the  forerunner  of  the 
ecclesiastical  stola?    See  illustrations  in  Saglio's  Diet,  i,  1244  etc. 

'  Cat.  des  figurines  (1882)  p.  21.  Bolta  et  Flandin :  Nintve,  ii,  154.  A.  de 
Longperier  :  Notice  des  Ant,  Assyr.  Nos.  263  to  267. 

»  Loth*R  Mabino/^ion,  ii,  71,  73.  *  Pierret,  Diet.  333,  538  ;   Voeab.  122. 


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"8  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


written   Taf  Tatu  (/>.  the  Tats)^g  or   f[^f^-      The  syllable 

Men-  may  also  mean  stability  (see  p.  200).  And  the  name  of 
Mendes  is  now,  by  Brugsch  and  J.  de  Roug^^  given  as  paBa-neb- 

Tatu,  abode  of  the  Ram,  lord  of  the  Tats:  ^^5^'^vZ:7ffn^  or 

'y'^^^5©B  ""'  't'^'FBSTS-  Thus  we  have 
both  Ram  and  Bull  connected  with  the  taf,  and  the  animal  sym- 
bolism must  be  the  same  in  each  case. 

The  prename  of  the  extremely  early  5th  dynasty  Monarch  Assa  I)  P  P  H  was 
Ta^kaRa  0  ^  LJ,  the  Tarx^prjs  of  Manetho.  Shabataka  an  Ethiopian  king 
successor  of  Shabaka,  appears  by  inscriptions  at  Kamak  to  have  worshipped 
Amen  ;  but,  like  Pian^i,  he  must  also  have  been  devout  to  Ptah,  for  the  tat  is 
in  his  prename  O  ^LJLJILJ*  T^tkauRa,  Tat  is  also  given  in  Pierret's 
Vocabulaire  in  the  following  words  (pp.  722,  167,  723): 

tat  ^  ^  stable,  stability,  establish,  confirm./      8   fp   ^J iN 

eset  ^  ^  shine,  be  resplendent  v     ii<::r>  I  ce:g=3^ 


peset 


TaffRa  O  ^  ^  >t^     the  successor  of  Khufu,  ivth  dynasty,    f      ^ 

i 


TatxeruRa  O  ^  J  p  king  in  the  xiiith  dynasty. 

Tat  kamaRa  O  f  U  '^  ^  ^»"fi^  ^^  ^^^  '^^  dynasty. 

Tatsetuf  J]]]]^king. 

Tetun  f^^^^  or  ^|[  ,^^.     Also  given  as    Dudun    (Pierret, 
Diet,  544),  and  said  to  be  a  Nubian  form  of  Khnum. 
Ptahtafas  £  \  |[|[  %  P  §— an  unknown  locality  (Brugsch  Geog.  iii,  42). 
[Following  the  analogy  of  Torx^pi/r,  I  suggest  that  where  Ra  and  tat  come 

together,  the  syllable  tat  has  the  priority.]    In  the  tat  and  homs^A  ^*  "^^X 
discern  the  later  cross  and  horns  of  the  St.  Hubert  legend. 

A  relic  of  Osiris  thus  written  u  ^  was  venerated  at  Busiris  in 
the  abode  of  silence,  Neb-seker  or  Pa-seker.  Bergmann  con- 
jectured it  to  be  the  backbone,  but  it  may  have  been  the  phallus, 
for  both  these  were  preserved  together  at  Tebehu.*  Diimichen* 
has  read  the  name  of  a  deity  of  Sebennytus  (Tebneter)  as  "  XHH 

daughter  of  Ra  "  JJ  o  ^?  ^^^"^  ^^  Hathor. 

^  Ghg,  Anc,  1 891,  pp.  108,  III. 
«  Ibid.  pp.  59,  113. 
•  Geogr,  Inschr,  i,  99. 


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Myiks.]  The  Tat  of  Ptah.  219 

In  the  hieratic  papyrus  of  Nesi-Amsu,  as  transcribed  and  trans- 
lated by  Dr.  E.  A.  Wallis  Budge,  Osiris  is  addressed  as  follows : 
"Thou  art  established,  established^  in  thy  name  of  'established 

one '"  (tettet  sep  sen  em  ren-k  Tet)  §5  ®  1 1  ^  ^  s3^=^8' A 

"  Thou  comest  in  peace  to  Tattu."    "  Hail,  thou  art  established  in 

the  heavenly  Tattu"  (a  tettefd  em  Jettet  hert)  "^ffffl^ffff 

^     ^  .     "  Hail,  thy  name  is  established  in  the  heavenly  Tettu  ! 

Hail,  thou  sweet-smelling  one  in  the  heavenly  Tettu ! "  (i  t^ttet 
ren  em  Tettet  hert ;  a  ne'temi  sti  em  T^tt^t  hert),  "  Hail,  the  lord 
of  the  heavenly  Tettu  cometh  "  {k  I  en  nebt  Tettet  hert).  Of  course 
this  dual  stablishment  in  the  heavens  must  be  interpreted  here 
as  the  eternal  firmness  of  the  dual  axis-pillars,  and  as  if  to  make 
this  view  certain,  we  also  have  in  the  same  papyrus,  the  further 
ascriptions  of  praise :  **  Thy  father  Tatenen  supports  the  heaven 
(udes  pet)  that  thou  mayest  walk  over  its  four  quarters"  (ftu's 

^^  III!  n^  "  Hail,  stablisher  (smen)  of  the  Earth  upon  its  founda- 
tions ;  hail,  opener  of  the  mouth  of  the  Four  great  gods "  (ftu 
neteru  aa  llll  |  cjj '  -^r:^  '  )•'  Compare  this  with  what  is  said  above 
under  "The  Cardinal  Points,"  p.  161,  and  I  think  no  one  will  care 
to  dispute  the  definite  cosmic  sigfnificance  of  all  this,  and  the  axis- 
symbolism  of  the  u. 

Although  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  press  the  theory  of  a 
connexion  of  the  word  tat  with  the  root  ta  and  the  name  Tatius, 
as  dealt  with  at  pp.  134,  136  supra^  I  still  venture  again  to  direct 
attention  to  the  point ;  and  the  Estonian  taht  (see  Index)  might 
also  be  mentioned  here. 

The  tat,  as  a  hieroglyph,  was  long  taken  for  *'  a  nilometer."  M. 
Pierret  seems  to  conclude  for  its  being  a  sculptor's  ladder  (selle), 
citing  plate  49  of  Rosellini*s  Monuments.  E.  de  Roug^,  who  said  it 
was  a  four-stepped  altar,  seems  to  me  to  have  been  on  the  right 
road,  for  I  theorise  that  the  stages  are  symbols  of  the  several  astral 
heavens,  one  above  the  other,  like  the  Eastern  T  or  tee  and  the 
many-storied  sacred  Umbrellas.  (See  also  the  connexion  made 
between  the  Omphalos  and  the  Altar  under  the  heading  "The 
Navel.") 

1  This  double  |a,  double  establishment,  speaks  to  me  of  the  dual  pillar. 
•  Archaologia  (2nd  series)  ii,  487,  488,  498,  499,  494. 


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220 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


{Axis 


THE  TEE  AND  UMBRELLA.  In  this  com- 
plex representation  of  a  two-armed  ta^  (see  p.  214) 
the  upper  portion,  which  supports  the  holy  winged 
scarab,  which  in  turn  supports  the  Sphere,  has  in 
common  with  the  examples  already  given,  an  extra- 
ordinary resemblance  to  what  is  called  a  T  or  tee  on 
the  central  summit  of  the  dome  of  "  Buddhist "  topes 
and  temples.  Some  outlines  of  such  Tees  are  there- 
fore here  added  for  comparison  and  consideration  by 
fellow-students.  Note  too  the  celestial  hieroglyph 
upon  which  the  supporting  man-god  kneels. 

The  relic-casket  found  in  the 
tope  at  Manikyala^  seems  to  ex- 
hibit clearly  the  same  succession 
of  stories  as  the 
tat.  Here  too 
we  seem  to  have 
a  combination 
of  the  Tee  and 
Umbrella  ideas 
very  clearly  con- 
veyed. A  clear- 
-cut instance  of 
the  Tee  is  that 


Manikyala. 

on  a  dagoba  cut  from  the  solid  rock  at  Ajunta.  The  dome  in  both 
these  cases  may  represent  the  vault  Of  the  heavens,  while  the  Tee 
may  be  the  heavens*palace  on  the  supreme  Northern  summit  of 
that  vault,  showing  in  or  above  its  roof,  too,  the  successive  layers 
of  the  several  heavens.  It  may  also  thus  be  in  fact  the  god-house 
or  b6th-fel ;  and  the  relic-casket  thus  would  become  a  straight 
parallel  to  the  treasure-house,  ark,  or  cista  mystica  of  the  section 
on  "The  Arcana,"  to  which  reference  is  here 
especially  desirable. 

In  the  Karli  cave,  as  in  the  Manikyala  casket,  we 
see  the  Tee  and  Umbrella  ideas  expressed  separately 
but  combined  together  in  the  same  upper  and  upper- 
most positions.  This  Karli  ^at  "umbrella"  is  of 
wood  much  decayed  and  warped  by  the  extremity 
^  of  age. 

'  Fergusson's  Indian  Arch.  1876,  p.  80. 


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Myth5:\ 


The  Tat  of  Ptah. 


221 


The  Tee  is  not  confined  to  the  top  of  the  heavens-vault  (as  I 
call  it)  but  is  also  found  constantly  as  a  capital  in  India  to  the 
gfreat  octagonal  pillars,  which  I  have  already  claimed  (p.  193)  for 
axis-symbols.  Of  course  the  reader  sees  at  once  that  the  position 
is  in  both  cases  cosmically  identical,  on  the  theories  of  this  Inquiry. 
Such  are  a  pair  of  columns — 
there  is  now  only  one — before  the 
rock-cut  cave  at  Karli,  and  another 
pair  in  front  of  the  rock-cut  cave  of 
Bedsa.  The  pillars,  15  on  each 
side,  which  separate  the  Karli 
aisles  from  the  nave,  also  have  the 
Tee  for  capital.  The  Tee  pillars  are 
also  found  in  the  Nassick  caves.* 
Here  I  point  out  another  mystic 
origin  for  a  type  of  pillar-capital, 
in  addition  to  that  formed  from 
the  fleur-de-Lis  in  the  Corinthian 
variety  (see  "  The  Colophon " 
p.  232).  $UsdL. 

The  temple  of  T'ien,  the  heavens,  at  Peking  is  close  to  the 

Southern  wall  of  the  city,  in 
a  square  enclosure  measur- 
ing about  a  mile  each  way. 
The  temple^  itself  is  a  low 
cylinder  with  three  broad 
projecting  roofs  which  repre^ 
sent,  it  may  be  supposed,  the 
heavens.  The  altar  stands 
in  the  centre  immediately 
below  the  peak  of  the  roof 

Lillie*  holds  that  the 
Umbrella  in  mythological  art 
symbolises  the  heaven  of  the 
gods.  The  Sanskrit  siupa 
means  properly  a  heap, 
rnound,  hillock  ;  and  has  be- 
come the  top^  of  India  and  the  tupa  of  Ceylon.     In  the  Saddharma 


^  FergussoD,  p,  150, 


'  Buddha  and  Early  Buddhism y  pp,  2,  19. 


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222  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

PundartkA  sutra  a  stupa  of  7  precious  metals  and  stones,  500 
yojanas  high,  uprises  from  the  South  in  front  of  Bhagavat  It 
remains  suspended  in  the  heavens,  and  the  stories  of  umbrellas 
which  surmount  it  reach  to  the  dwellings  of  the  gods.* 

As  to  this  subject  of  the  sacred  Tee  and  Umbrella  and  their 
supreme  significance  and  ritualism  in  the  East,  I  cannot  do  better 
than  refer  the  reader  for  the  fullest  information  to  the  able  and 
finely-illustrated  papers  by  Miss  C.  F.  Gordon-Cumming  in  the 
English  Illustrated  Magazine  for  June  and  July  1888.  Specially 
to  be  noted  there  are  the  dagoba  in  the  rock-cut  temple  at 
Karli  (above-mentioned),  the  three  umbrellas  over  Buddha 
sculptured  in  the  caves  of  EUora,  "  in  which  the  emblematic  Wheel 
is  shown  beneath  the  Throne  "  of  Buddha' ;  the  "  Umbrella  over- 
shadowing the  sacred  Wheel,"  sculptured  on  a  panel  of  the  Eastern 
gateway  of  the  Sanchi  Tope  (Bhopal,  Central  India)  where  the 
wheel  is  adored  by  men  and  women  and  by  male  and  female 
winged  and  feather-hatted  deities ;  the  adoration  of  the  umbrella 
on  a  tall  maypole  by  the  Santhal  hill-tribe  near  Calcutta  at  their 
annual  spring  festival,  paralleled  by  Miss  Gordon-Cumming  from 
Fiji.  In  Ceylon  the  early  traveller  Percival  said  the  umbreUa  was 
only  shared  by  the  monarch  with  the  Buddhist  priests.  In 
Assyrian  and  Babylonian  bas-reliefs  the  umbrella  is  confined 
to  the  king.  There  was  a  sacred  umbrella  held  over  the  Mexican 
emperors  in  their  sacred  functions.  In  Burmah  the  white 
umbrella  was  reserved  for  the  king,  while  the  Buddhist  priests 
carry  gilt  umbrellas.  The  state  umbrella  taken  from  King  Kwoffi 
of  Ashanti  by  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  (as  he  then  was)  in  1874  was 
on  all  state  occasions,  and  on  the  march,  carried  open,  and  con- 
stantly twirled  round  and  round ;  and  the  King  of  Dahomey's 
insignia  consist  in  an  enormous  and  gorgeous  flat  umbrella  on  a 
high  pole.  Miss  Gordon-Cumming  duly  accentuates  the  leading 
fact  that  these  umbrellas  or  chattas  have  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  warding  off  sun-rays  or  rain-drops  ;  but  so  completely  is  the 
sacred  supreme  signification  of  the  emblem  now  misconceived, 
that  Mr.  Colquhoun,  in  his  Across  Chrysi  (\y  412),  notes  with 
admiration  that,  at  Chee-kai  in  Yunnan  in  1882,  "a  red  umbrella 
was  held  over  our  heads,  quite  irrespective  of  the  fact  that  the  sun 
had  long  set ! "  Of  course  it  had  naught  to  do  with  the  sun. 
The  Pu-lung  Chong-kia  aboriginal  (?)  tribe  of  the  same  part  of 
*  Burnoufs  Lotus ^  145.    '  It  will  be  noted  that  the  **  umbrellas  *'  there  are  stick-less. 


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Mytks.l 


The  Tat  of  Ptah. 


223 


China  put  up  an  umbrella  over  the  grave  of  the  newly  buried 
{Across  Chrysi  ii,  368). 

In  the  Higashi  Hon-gwan-ji  temple  at  Nagoya  (Japan)  is  a 
group  showing  the  Umbrella  miraculously  flying  back  through  the 
air  to  the  Buddhist  saint  Sho-ichi.^  The  coins  of  the  Emperor- 
priest  Elagabalus  sometimes  show  four  umbrellas  held  over  his 
sacred  black  stone  ;'  and  the  stone  (locally  called  manapsa)  of 
Artemis  on  the  coins'  of  Perga  in  Pamphylia  seems  to  be 
hidden  in  a  reliquary  which  resembles  as  much  as  need 
be  the  Indian  dagoba  with  the  Tee  thereon.  The 
purely  Chinese  yellow-dragon  umbrella  is  triple,  like  the 
imported  Buddha's  chatta.* 


^  Satow  and  Hawes*s  Handbook^  2nd  ed.  p.  76. 

•  J.  Reville :  Relig.  sous  Us  Shtires,  249. 

>  Waddington,  Voyage  en  Asie  Minoure^  94. 

*  W.  Simpson  :  Meeting  the  Sun,  i6a 


f^  o  rn  ffi 


a  0  ^  i  n 


"^  n  y  B 


m 


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2  24  The  Night  of  the  Cods.  [Axis 


1 8. — The  Heavens- Palace  and  its  Pillar. 

THE  Japanese  creators  Izanagi  and  Izanami  built  an  octagonal 
Palace*  round  their  Pillar  (pp.  36  and  189  supra)  taking  it  for 
the  central  post  which  was  to  support  the  roof.*  The  palace  raised 
on  One  Foot  or  pillar,  built  for  two  later  gods  in  ii,  44  of  the 
Kozhikif  seems  a  variant  of  this  myth. 

The  Kozhiki  calls  this  second  palace  :  asM  (J£)  hitotsu  agari  no  miya; 
where  ashi  means  foot ;  but  the  Nihongi  has  hashira  ft  pillar,  instead  ofashi. 
The  native  commentators  seem  to  agree  that  the  single  pillar  supported  the 
whole  weight  of  this  miya  =  temple  or  palace  ;  but  I  do  not  find  that  any  one 
has  seen  that  we  have  here  a  mere  doublet  of  Izanag^'s  palace.  The  word  used 
for  Izanagi's  too,  iono^  is  (now)  an  inferior  word  to  miya,  for  miya  is  properly 
the  temple  of  a  Shint6  kami,  or  the  imperial  palace  of  the  Mikado  alone  ;  while 
tono  means  any  seigneurial  mansion.  Of  course,  if  it  were  not  for  the  Chinese 
character,  ashi  might  just  as  well  here  mean  reed  M  2^  foot. 
Perhaps  ashi  means  both  reed  and  foot ;  for  the  Suga-palace  (that 
is  miya)  built  by  the  god  Take-haya-Susa  (or  Sosa),  generally 
called  Susanowo,  in  i,  19  of  the  Kozhiki^  is  also  for  me  a  manifest 
creation  of  the  firmament,  of  the  heavens-palace^  Spga  here 
seems  to  mean  a  rush,  and  is  thus  a  parallel  to  ashi,  a  reed,  as  an 
Axis-symbol. 

"  When  this  great  kanii  began  to  build  the  Suga-palace,  clouds  (kumo)  rose  up 
thence.  Then  he  made  a  divine  hymn.  That  hymn  said  :  *  5ight  clouds  rise 
up  ;  the  8-sided  fence  of  the  holy  quarters.  As  a  bourn -enclosure  the  8-sided 
fence  is  made.'"  This  has  already  been  dealt  with  at  p.  169.  " Then  he  called 
the  kami  Father  Reed-stroker  (Ashi-nadzu  Chi)  and  said  *  I  appoint  thee  Great 
Man  (Obito,  First  Man  ?  an  Acjam)  of  my  palace ' "  (mi  ya,  divine  house). 
The  8  holy  quarters  are  the  cardinal  and  half-cardinal  points,  as 

*  Ya-hiro  dono  J\  5^  ^,  eight-breadth  palace  (tono).  I  here  give  ya  and  hire  the 
same  meaning  as  at  p.  168.  The  octagon  thus  gives  me  the  8  cardinal  and  half-cardinal 
points,  and  the  palace  becomes  more  clearly  cosmic.  Mr.  Aston  has  kindly  given  me 
the  following  note :  Arai  Hakusiki,  the  well-known  scholar  of  the  early  17th  century 
mentions  (with  disapproval)  an  ancient  opinion  that  the  Va-hiro  dono  was  an  octagonal 
building,  each  side  being  one  hiro  of  8  feet :  "  Kiu  setsu  ni,  '  hiro '  to  wa  has-shaku  nari ; 
ippd  ni  has-shaku  dzutsu  hak-kaku  ni  tsukureru  'tono  nan.'*  (The  only  way  out  of 
the  puzzlement  is  the  cosmic  way  of  making  these  hak-kaku,  that  is  *  8  comers,*  the  8 
points,  as  I  propose.     I.O'N.) 

^  Mr.  Satow's  Pure  Shintd,  67  ;  Mr.  Chamberlain's  ICojiki,  19. 

*  Mr.  Chamberlain's,  p.  130. 

*  Mr.  Chamberlain's,  p.  63. 


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MythsJ]       The  Heavens-Palace  and  its  Pillar,  ^25 

^ho\v:n  at  p.  i^ ;  the  fence  is  the  firmament ;  and  the  octagon  is 
innumerable  times  reproduced  in  towers,  pillars,  and  mountains 
(see  Index).  Take-hay  a  means  High-swift,  and  susa  is  said  to  be 
"  impetuous  ; "  titles  not  discordant  with  a  rotating-heavens  god. 

The  Chinese  palace  standing  like  a  man  on  tip-toe^  with  5,000 
cubitsi  of  walls  and  lofty  pillars,  in  the  most  archaic  Shi  King^  may 
very  well  be  a  si^nilar  symbol  or  allegory,'. 

This  "  palace  rafsed  on  One  Foot,"  island  and  all,  also  turns  up 
in  a  sufficiently  astonishing  manner  in  Irish  legend  ;  and  I  venture 
to  think  that  the  several  marvellous  coincidences  between  Japanese 
and  Irish  cosmic  myths  and  symbols  set  out  in  this  Inquiry ^{\xxx\\^\\. 
the  migratipnisis  with  nuts  ^  hard  to  crack  as  could  well  be 
desired  by  any  one  arguing  away  from  them.  In  Mailduin's 
Voyage  he  canle  to  an  island  called  Aenchoss,  that  is  One-foot,  so 
called  because  it  was  supported  by  a  single  pillar  in  the  middle. 
At  the  foot  of  the  pillar,  deep.down  in  the  water,  they  saw  a  door 
securely  closed  and  locked,  and  they  judged  that  this  was  the  way 
into  the  island.*  (The  reader  is  also  reiquesled  to  refer  back  to 
what  is  said  about  gods  with  one  foot  or  leg,  p.  215.) 

A  curious  Russian  form  of  the  palace  on  one  foot  is  given  by 
Mr.  Ralston.'  Four  heroes  who  af-e  wandering  about  the  world 
come  to  a  dense  forest  in  which  an  izba  or  hut  is  twirling  round  on 
a  fowl's  leg.  The  youngest,  prince  Ivan  (our  Jack)  makes  it  revolve 
with  the  magic  word  Izbushka.  This  supplies  the  idea  of  cosmic 
rotation  which  is  absent  in  the  Japanese  myth.  When  this  Russian 
prince  Ivan  is  hunti^ng  the  Norka,  that  mysterious  otter-beast  flies 
to  a  great  white  stone,  tilts  it  up,  and  escapes  into  the  other  world.* 
Ivan  builds  a  palace  over  the  stone.  In  another  tcde  the  Norka 
sleeps  on  a  stone  in  the  middle  of  the  blue  sea.  In  another 
dwelling,  a  hut  on  One  Leg,  a  stone  is  suddenly  lifted  and  a  Baba 
Yaga  or  female  demon  issues  forth  to  Ivan. 

Another  Russian  heavqps-palacq  is  the  shrine  of  prir)ce3S  Helena 
the  Fair,  built  on  12  columns,  ai)d  with  12  rows  of  beams.  Therein 
she  sits  upon  a  high  throne  ;*  and  up  to  her  lips  prince  Ivan  has  to 
jump  (on  the  back  of  the  Enchanted  Hors^), 

One  Indian  princess  lives  in  a  glass  palace  surrounded  by  a  wide  river ; 
another  in  a  house  circled  by  7  hedges  of  spears  and  7  great  ditches  ;  yet 

'  Legge's  Shi  King,  1871,  p.  305.  '  Dr.  Joyce's  Celtic  Romances,  151. 

•  Russ,  Folk-Tales,  144,  138.  *  Ralston,  74,  75,  144,  76. 

*  Ibid.  256,  262. 


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226  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {^Axis 

another  in  a  garden  hedged  round  with  7  hedges  of  bayonets.'     In  all  these 
cases  also  the  hero  has  to  leap  to  the  princess's  arms. 

This  leap   is  clearly  another   way   of  getting  to  heaven,  besides 
the  bridge,  the  pillar,  the  beanstalk,  and  so  on. 

In  the  Persian  RauzaUus-Safa^  the  gods  of  the  people  of  A'ad 
were  SamCld  and  Samad  ;  and  they  made  pillars  of  stone  as  high  as 
their  own  bodies,  and  built  upon  them  tall  buildings. 

This  pillar  function  of  the  Axis  can  also  be  explained  from 
Chinese  astrology,  which  contains  a  sort  of  emblematic  freemasonry 
illustrative  of  this.  The  chief  upright  of  a  roof,  the  kingpost,  is  the 
31  liang^  and  is  also  ^  ^  tung-chu^  the  house-top  prop ;  and  the 
top  of  the  Hang  is  called  the  ^  Ki^  which  was  primitively  a  nomad's 
tentpole.' 

The  Latin  term  was  cardo  masculus  ;  its  point  was  the  tenon.  The  beam 
into  which  it  was  fixed  was  the  cardo  femina,  in  which  the  mortise  was  made* 
Now  in  Chinese  philosophical  cosmogony  the  JJ;  1^  Tai-Ki,  the 
Great  Ki  (or  Summity),  is  the  origin  of  all  things,  having 
engendered  the  dual  male  and  female  co-principles  yin  and  yang — 
in  Japanese  In-y6 — whence  in  turn  everything  has  arisen.* 

Behind  the  Tai-Ki  speculation  does  not  venture ;  that  is  the 
Chinese  "first  great  cause,  least  understood,"  the  foundation  of  all 
their  cosmogony,  which  we  shall  constantly  meet  with  also  as  both 
Tai-Yi  and  Shang-Ti.  The  great  northern  constellation  ^  Wei 
rules  the  perpetual  annual  development  of  the  yin  and  yang  ;  and 
wei,  rooftop,  is  synonymous  with  ki,  the  kingpost-point,*  the  Pole 
of  heaven  and  earth,  to  which  we  shall  presently  return. 

The  Arabic  name  for  the  pole-star,  Al-rucaba,  is  quite  in  this  direction,  for 
al-rekab,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  correct  form,  has  also  given  in  Spanish 
arrocaba,  the  kingpost  of  a  roof.  The  Chinese  call  the  pole-star  (a  of  Ursa 
Minor)  Tien  chung-kung,  the  central-palace  of  the  heavens  3^  ^f  S>  says 
the  Tien-kwan  shu^  as  cited  by  Prof.  G.  Schlegel.'  This  is  confirmed  by  the 
^  ^  {ICaou  Yao). 

But  it  must  be  noted  here  that  one  Chinese  term  for  the  dual 
principles — of  which  fzanagi  and  Izanami  are  clearly  a  Japanese 
embodiment — is  ^  j|t  Liang-I,  where  Hang,  as  above,  is  the  Axis 
(although  it  is  also  Two^  as  its  Chinese  character  ^  shows),  and  I 
the  Law  of  Nature. 

Freemasonry  and  its  "  Grand  Lodge  above "  seem  to  come  in  here  when 

>  Miss  Frere*s  Old  Deccan.Days,  31,  73,  95,  135. 

*  Orient. 'Trans.  Fundy  189 1,  p.  99.  »  Vitruvius,  ix,  6. 

*  Prof.  G.  Schlegel's  Uranog.  Chi.  251,  246. 

*  find.  246,  252  (citing  the  Hwdn-  7'icn  wdn  chi%  •  find.  524. 


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Myths.']       The  Heavens- Palace  and  its  Pillar.  227 

the  Chinese  builder  to  this  day  attaches  a  design  of  the  8  kwa  (see  p.  99)  to 
the  ki  of  a  new  house  ;  for  the  dual  principles  first  produced  the  4  liang^  which 
in  turn  evolved  the  8  kwa  or  natural  phenomena*  with  which  we  have  already 
had  to  deal  more  than  once.  This  little  scrap  of  actual  fact  flashes  light  upon 
the  widespread  Western  builder's  custom  of  decorating  the  completed  roof-frame 
of  new  buildings.  In  Korea  money  called  sAng  ji  is  placed  with  ceremony  on 
the  roof-tree  of  every  new  house.'  In  housebuilding,  the  Japanese  put  the  roof 
together  first ;  then,  having  marked  the  pieces,  they  take  it  asunder,  and  keep 
it  so,  until  the  walls  are  ready  for  it.» 

With  this  too  may  be  connected  the  allegorical  meaning  of  the  69,384  rafters  in 
the  roof  of  the  famous  temple  of  Amida,  the  Inmieasurable  Buddha,  at  Zenkdji 
in  Japan.  This  number  is  the  same  as  the  number  of  Chinese  characters  in  the 
HchKe  kid  or  Saddharma-pundarika  sfitra ;  saddharma  pun^arika,  or  the 
good-law  lotus,  being  the  mystic  name  for  this  cosmos,  that  is,  as  we  might  say, 
for  "  the  present  dispensation."* 

The  Palace-pillar  indubitably  appears  in  a  very  important  form 
in  the  Odyssey  (xxiii,  190  etc.)  where  Odusseus  describes  his  own 
great  handicraft  He  boasts  that  none  but  a  god  can  move  his  Bed* 
for  a  great  marvel  was  wrought  in  its  fashioning  by  himself  alone. 
There  was  growing  a  bush  of  Olive,  long  of  leaf  and  most  goodly  of  growth, 
within  the  inner  court;  and  the  stem  as  large  as  a  Pillar.  Roundabout  this  I 
built  the  chamber  till  I  had  finished  it,  with  stones  close  set ;  and  I  roofed  it 
over  well,  and  added  thereto  compacted  doors  fitting  well.  Ne?ct  I  sheared  off  all 
the  light  wood  of  the  long-leaved  Olive,  and  rough-hewed  the  Trunk  upwards 
from  the  root,  and  smoothed  it  around  with  the  adze  well  and  skilfully,  and 
made  straight  the  line  thereto,  and  so  fashioned  it  iqto  the  bedpost  ;  and  I 
bored  it  all  with  the  auger.  Beginning  from  this  headposty  I  wrought  at  the 
bedstead  till  I  had  finished  it,  and  made  it  fair  with  inlaid  work  of  gold  and  of 
silver  and  of  ivory.  Then  I  made  f^st  thereiq  a  bright  purple  band  of  ox-hide.« 
Here  we  have  Pillar,  Universetree-Trunk,  the  Heavens  and  their 
stars  (with  perhaps  the  rainbow  ?) ;  and  we  also  get  the  thalamos 
of  "  The  Arcana,"  infra. 

The  udumbara-post  of  the  Satapatha-brdhmana  stood  in  the 
centre  of  the  sacrifice-shed  (Sadas) ;  it  was  touched  in  the  ritual 
(which  reminds  us  of  the  children's  game  Tig-touch-wood).  "  The 
Udambara-tree  is  strength;  they  sit  touching  the  udambara-posL" 
"They  form  a  circle  round  the  udambara-post,  and  touch  it, 
muttering  the  mantra :  *  Here  is  stability,  here  is  joy.' "'  When  a 
child  touches  wood  it  is  safe  from  catching. 

Ennius  called  the  vault  of  heaven  the  palace :  "  But  while  he 

*  Uranog.  Chi.  246,  252  (citing  the  Hw&n-T'ien  wdn  chi\. 

•  .\llen*s  Korean  TaleSy  1889,  p.  109.  ^  Chamberlain's  Things  Japanese,  355. 

*  Handbook  of  Japan  (Satow  and  Hawes),  290.     *  As  to  divine  beds,  see  p.  152  supra. 

•  Butcher  and  Lang's  words,  p.  382,        '  Dr.  Eggeling's  Sat.-brdh^  ii,  141,  454. 

P   2 


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2  2S  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  \Axis 

judges  of  what  is  best  by  his  palate,  he  looks  not  above  to  the 
palace  (as  Ennius  calls  it)  of  the  heavens  :  cceli  /Saturn,  ut  ait 
Ennius  "^  (see  p.  43  supra). 

This  Palace  is  the  AkroPolis  (apex-city)  the  AkroKorJnthos ; 
where  both  iroKi^  and  korinthos  would  admit  of  considerable  com- 
mentary. It  is  **  the  hall  brighter  than  the  sun,  shingled  with  gold, 
standing  on  Gem-Lea  "  prophesied  by  the  third  and  last  sibyt  of 
the  Voluspd.*  This  is  the  Brugh,  brug,  or  brud,  the  fairy  Palace  of 
the  Boinne  (Boyne)  at  the  North  of  the  Broad-Boinne  Bridge. 
And  Aengus,  Aonghus,  Oengus,  Oingus  or  Oinguss,  the  Mac  Oc^ 
the  great  magician*  of  this  Palace,  must  be  the  Polar  deity. 
Aengus  is  son  of  Great  Dagda  and  Boann  (the  goddess  of  the 
Boinne,,  or  hea.vens-river)  ;  he  is  also  Oengus  mac  ind  Oc,  the  son 
of  the  (two)  Young-Ones,  and  In  Mac  Oc,  the  Young-Son.  Prof, 
Rhys  leans  to  making  Aengus  a  Zeus,  while  Dagda  becomes  a 
Kronos.  Dagda  is  "  disinherited  "  by  his  Young-Son  Aengus,  as 
Kronos  is  by  his  youngest  son  Zeus.  Aengus  was  also  wily,  crafty,, 
and  Prof.  Rhys  makes  Myrdliin  (Merlin)  his  counterpart.  Aengus 
has  a  cloak  of  invisibility,  and  i$  also  Aengus  of  the  Poisoned 
Spear,  which  equates  with  the  Welsh  Yspydhaden's  poisoned 
javelin,  and  is  a  link  with  Kronos  and  his  harp^,  and  with  all  the 
spear-gods  of  this  Inquiry.  Dun  Aengus,  the  fprt  of  Aengus,  is 
qlearly  another  name  for  the  heavens-palace.  Thq  crystal  bower 
of  Aengus  is  like  the  Glass-House  in  the  Ocean,  into  which  Merlin 
disappears  with  his  Nine  Bards  and  his  Thirteen  treasures ;  it  is 
the  heavens-vault, 


Bishamon  Ten  or  Tamon  Ten,  one  of  the  Seven  Japanese  gods 
of  good  fortune  (whose  personalities  have  been  overlaid  with 
Buddhism)  grasps  a  long  spear  in  one  hand  (although  he  is  in  no 
other  sense  warlike)  and  holds  a  miniature  pagoda  on  the  palm  of 
the  other.  He  can  confer  on  his  devotees  the  Seven  precious 
treasures.  He  is  equated  with  the  Hindti  Kuvera  alias  Vaish- 
ravana,  whose  garden  is  on  Mount  Mandara.  He  is  the  regent  of 
the  North,  has  the  Three  Legs  o-  Man,  8  teeth,  and  the  9  Nidhi  or 
mysterious  treasures  of  the  Irish  Niall.  He  also  got  from  Brahm^ 
the  great  self-moving  aerial  car  Pushpaka,  which  seems  a  parallel 

*  Cicero  De  nat.  Deor.  ii,  i8.  ^  Rhys's  Hib,  Led,  534,  613. 

3  Ibid,   148,   251,   507,    144  to   146,   151,  667,   150,    155,  493.     Pr.  Joyce's  CeUic 
Koman^fs^  402. 


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Myths  J]        The  Heavens- Palace  and  its  Pillar.  229 

to  Argo  and  all  the  other  heavens-boats,  as  well  as  to  all  the  celes- 
tial chariots. 

•In  what  a  new  aspect,  too,  all  this  presents  the  incense-burning 
and  libations  to  all  tile  host  of  the  heavens  in  the  high-places  and 
upon  the  flat  Eastern  house-tops  in  Jeremiah  (xix,  13),  Zephaniah 
(i,  s),  and  the  second  book  of  Kings  (xxiii,  5) ;  and  also  upon  the 
•altar  on  the  roof  of  the  upper  chamber  of  Ahaz  (ii  Kings  xxiii,  12). 
With  these  texts  we  might  compare  the  Vedic :  **  Agni  who  has  his 
abode  on  high  places."^  A  high  place  bima,  and  an  altar  mizbeah, 
were  at  one  time  distinguished  in  the  Old  T^tament ;  but  ulti- 
mately b^ma  was  the  term  applied  to  any  idolatrous  shrine  or 
altar:* 

The  chief  of  all  the  s^hib  1  tesArruf  (owners  of  possession)  of 
the  Moslem  dervishes  is  called  the  Kutb,  or  Kutub  ;  a  word  which, 
according  to  Lane  and  Devic,  signifies  primarily  a  pole  or  axis, 
-and  then  a  chief;  it  also  means  a  centre ;  and  is  here  =  s^hib. 
Devic  instances  the  old  astronomical  al-chitot,  the  axis  of  the  sphere,  the  pole 
of  the  world,  as  a  corruption  from  al-Kutb,  the  axle,  the  pole,  the  polestar ; 
so  that  Kutb-ud-Din,  whose  inscription  is  on  the  Kutub-Minar  (p.  208  supra\ 
would  mean  the  Polestar  (or  chief)  of  the  faith,  the  head  of  the  church,  in 
point  of  fact.    This  is  very  significant  indeed. 

The  Kutub's  ordinary  station  is  on  the  roof  of  the  K^'bah  at 
Mecca,  where  he  is  always  invisible — ^je  le  crois  bien — though  often 
audible. 

He  is  unique  of  his  kind.  On  his  right  and  left  are  the  2  Umen^  (plural  of 
emin,  faithful).  When  the  one  in  the  middle  dies,  the  left  succeeds  him,  and 
the  right  takes  the  left's  place.  The  right  place  is  then  filled  by  one  of  the  4 
Evtad  (plural  of  veted,  tentpeg,  cardinal  points).  There  are  also  5  Envdr 
(plural  of  nOr,  light)  who  succeed  the  Evtid.  Again,  there  are  7  Akhyir 
(plural  of  khair,  good)  who  succeed  the  Envir.  There  are  also  8  nukebi,  or 
deputies  (of  the  4?)  These  with  other  40  are  the  unseen,  the  rij&l  i  ghaib,  who 
every  mom  attend  at  the  KiTja  of  Mecca,  on  the  summit  of  which  the  Three 
stand,  never  quitting  it.  Besides  these  i  +2+4  +  5(4- 7) +  8+ 40  =  60 
+  7  there  are  other  70  Budela  (plural  of  abdfil,  servant  of  Allah).'  Lane  said 
as  to  Egypt^  that  many  of  the  muslims  say  that  ^/ijah  or  EI\?ls  was  the  Kutub 
of  his  time,  and  that  he  invests  the  successive  Kutubs,  having  never  died, 
because  he  drank  of  the  fountain  of  life.  The  Mevlevi  sheikh  of  Nikosia  says 
Elias  is  the  kutub  over  the  Sea,  and  Husin  the  kutub  over  the  Land. 
A  Turkish  MS.  mentions  a  Kadiri  dervish,  Ali  el  V^hidi  who 
was    the   Axis   of  the   Lord,   the   Centre   of  the    K^'bah  of  the 

*  Wilson's  RigVeda,  ii,  25.  ^  RgOg^  of  Semites,  1889,  p.  471. 

*  Jno.  P.  Brown  :  The  Dervishes,  pp.  82,  163,  as  revised  by  the  late  Dr.  Redhouse. 

*  Modern  Egyptians,  chap.  3. 


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230  The  Night  oj  the  Gods.  [Axis 

glorious  Eternal.  The  sheikh  Ismail  er  R{imt  was  also  the  Axis 
of  the  Lord.^ 

Mr.  Brown  (p.  28)  says  Ki'ba — which  is  transliterated  in  many  differing 
ways — means  simply  cudey  but  it  is  also  possible  to  refer  it  (in  spite  of  the 
shape  of  the  Meccan  K&'bah,  which  has  suggested  cude)  to  the  root  ku  which 
also  gives  us  caelum.  (See  p.  148  supra,  and  Skeat's  Die/.:  cube,  cubit  and 
cup,  and  root  ku,  p.  732.) 

The  subjects  chosen  to  be  graven  on  the  ceilings  of  Egyptian 
temples  had  a  direct  relation  to  celestial  phenomena ; '  and  let  us 
remind  ourselves  here  that  the  common  word  "ceiling"  itself 
comes  from  French  ciel,  Latin  caelum,  the  heavens,  a  vault 

On  the  28th  day  of  the  moon  the  Thibetan  Buddhist  Lamas  all 
ascend  robed  and  in  their  yellow  mitres  to  the  flat  roofs  of  their 
houses,  where  they  sit  and  chant  slow  hymns  by  the  light  of  red 
lanterns  on  poles.  The  service  ends  with  a  thrice  repeated  blare 
from  trumpets,  conch-shells,  drums  and  bells;  after  which  the 
Lamas  (4,000  of  them  at  Kdinbiim)  scream  and  yell  like  wild 
beasts,  and  then  come  down  to  the  ground.' 

Capt  Conder  saw  on  a  house-top  in  Jerusalem  the  Jewish 
ceremony  of  sanctification  of  the  moon,  prescribed  in  cabalistic 
writings.  It  is,  he  considers,  a  survival  of  moon-worship;  and 
may  be  compared  with  the  Ma  or  Moon  Yasht  of  the  Vendtdftd.* 
The  prayers  are  said  standing  on  one  leg,  an  attitude  also  common 
to  Moslem  dervishes  and  HindCi  hermits,  and  I  have  at  p.  216 
supra  connected  it  with  Ptah  and  the  Universe-axis. 

The  Namnites  (who  named  Nantes.^)  of  the  Loire  worshipped 
in  a  roofed  temple  ;  but  it  was  unroofed  by  the  priestesses  once  a 
year,  and  had  to  be  roofed  (thatched  ?)  again  before  sunset.* 

It  is  at  least  curious  that  so  many  of  the  leading  Northern 
emblems  are  lucky  house-  and  roof-marks.  The  7-branch  candle- 
stick, the  tomoye,  the  suastika,  and  the  wheel.  It  might  be  added 
that  the  Pamir  plateau  of  Central  Asia  was  not  called  the  Bam-i- 
Dunia,  Roof  of  the  World,  for  nothing ;  and  the  Ridge  of  Heaven, 
divah  s^nu,  occurs  several  times  in  the  Rig  Veda  (i,  166,  5  ;  v,  59, 7  ; 

60,  3).  

^■— ■— ■^■■■^^^■"^         \ 

Under  the  heading  of  **The  Labyrinth,"  I  endeavour  con- 
clusively to  prove  that  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphs  (i)  for  a  temple- 

*  J.  P.  Brown's  T)u  Dtrvishes^  89,  91.  The  Mevlevl  sheikh  says  there  is  here 
*  probably '  a  connexion  with  the  North  celestial  pole. 

»  Pierret :  DicU  540.  >  Hue's  Travels  (W.  Hazlitt's  translation)  ii,  70. 

*  Heih  and  Moab,  p.  275.  *  Rhys's  Hib.  Lecis,  197. 


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Myths^        The  Heavens-Palace  and  its  Pillar. 


231 


1^^^,  (2)  the  h  ra,  and  (3)  the 
heavens-palace   or    Universe- 


enclosure  or  hall  of  columns,  use;^ 

mer  m,  have  their  origin  in  the 
labyrinth  ;  and  that  the  Greek  meander,  the  Indian  nandy4-varta, 
the  heraldic  fylfot,  the  Japanese  manji,  the  Chinese  character  «Ji, 
and  the  universal  suastika  are  all  resemblant  or  similar  exponents 
of  the  same  supernal  (and  infernal)  idea. 


This  Inquiry  was  finished,  and  the  earlier  portion  of  the  MS.  was  with  the 
printer,  when  I  received  to-day  (12th  March  1891)  the  able  first  part  of  Dr.  M. 
Caster's  study  of  the  Legend  of  the  GraiL*  He  compares  it  with  the  Iter  ad 
Paradisum  in  the  Alexander  Legends,  of  which  he  uses  the  Greek  version  by 
the  pseudo  Callisthenes  (iii,  28),  and  the  Latin  of  Julius  Valerius.  The  Grail 
or  Graal  was  one  of  the  endless  important  subjects  that  had  to  be  here  left 
unattacked,  and  it  was  therefore  with  all  the  greater  satisfaction  I  found  that 
almost  all  of  the  "  properties  "  of  these  legends  had  been  already  expounded, 
tant  bien  que  mal,  from  other  sources,  in  this  Inquiry, 

Here  are  tabulated  those  cosmic  symbols,  as  hastily  condensed  from 
Dr.  Gaster : 


e. 

/: 


Iter  ad  Paradisum, 


"Kronos.") 
(See   p.  192  and 


*The  Moun- 


Veiled  deity.     (See 
throne,   or  couch. 

Index.) 
mountain,  high.     (See 

tain.") 
palace   (or  round  temple)  on  top  of 

mountain, 
towers  (twelve) — Altar  in  centre, 
pillars  (seven)  and  seven  steps, 
chain,  golden,  hangs  from  middle  of 

temple.     (See  Index.) 
wreath,  transparent,  or  trophseum  or 

stropsum    of  gold,   hung    by  the 

chain.     (See  "  The  Wheel.") 
sphere    in    the    form    of    **vcrtiginis 

coelitis"  (the  rotating  heavens)  hangs 

again  from  the    trophaeum.      (See 

"The  Sphere," and  "The  Arcana.") 
chariot  (at  top  of  altar), 
lamp, 
tree     (seven-branched    golden    wild 

vine), 
tree  full  of  lights.    (See  "The  Tree.") 


Graal, 


g' 


bridge,  which  draws  up  by  enchant- 
ment.    (See  "  The  Bridge.") 
h.     rock,  stone,  or  jewel. 


branched  candlestick   (ten  branches). 
(See  "The  Number  Seven.") 


*  Folk-Lore^  ii,  50. 


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If.     bird  (human-voiced  golden  dove)  on 
the  sphere, 
bird   (Eagle  with    wings    out-spread 
"  over  the  whole  sideboard  **). 


tu    bird  (dove).     (See  "  Divine  Birds.") 


o,    sword  (breaklessy  save  in  one  mysterious 
peril)  (Axis), 
^pear,  dropping  blood. 
/.    three    drops   of  Wood.    (See    "The 
Heavens-River. ") 
(See  also  what  is  said  of  the  Graal  and  Graha  under  "  The  North. ') 


19. — The  Colophon. 

J  THINK  the  printer's  colophon  must  be  traced  back  to  a  very 
important  and  lofty  origin.  Festus  said  ^"colophon  dixerunt, 
quum  aliquid  y?////aw  significaretur."  And  that  is  why  colophon 
and  finis  fill  analogous  parts  in  the  practice  of  the  printer's  art. 
KoXo^i/  is  the  roof,  top,  summit,  pinnacle,  extremity,  end  ;  in  fact  it 
can  refer  to  both  ends  of  the  stick ;  Ko\o<f>&va  hridelvai  and  entrcOevac 
and  colophonem  addere  meant  to  make  a  finish,  "to  put- oh  the 
colophon,"  or  rather  **  to  put  the  colophon  on-to  "  something  else.* 
Koloph6nia*  was  the  daughter  of  ErechTheus  and  was  thus  sister 
of  ChThbnia  (could  we,  in  ErechTheus,  see  the  same  idea  as  we  get 
in  erectus,  set-up  ?).  Kolophomos  the  Giant  was  son  of  Tartaros 
and  ChTh6nia  :  we  want  no  fitter  origin  for  the  Universe-column 
that  issues  from  tartarus  and  the  earth  to  reach  the  heavens. 
ErechTheus  was  also  earth-born,  auto-chthonous  (note  that 
ChTh6nia  would  thus  be  his  mother  as  well  as  his  daughter),  and 
is  one  of  the  many  gods  swallowed-up  alive  by  the  Earth,  which  is 
in  this  case  pierced  for  the  purpose  by  the  trident  of  Poseiddn. 

*  Passow,  s,  V,  •  Hyginus,  Fab,  238. 


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Afyiks^  The  Colophon.  ^33 

Here  we  clearly  hav^  a  dotible  im^ge  of  the  Universe-axis 
traversing  this  globe.  ErechTheus  had  very  suitably  a  temple  in 
the  Acropolis  (see  Index)  of  Athens ;  and,  as  if  to  clinch  the 
argument  for  his  position  as  a  central  Universe  god,  he  divided  his 
subjects  into  4  classes,  an  obvious  reference  to  the  4  cardinal  parts 
of  his  universe.  ErechTheus  was  "also  an  adjectival  title  of 
Poseiddn,  the  god  of  the  (ei'ect  ?)  trident.  One  6f  the  daughteVs 
of  ErechTheus  was  called  ErechThis ;  another  was  Kpeovca  (see 
"  Crete  "  p.  1 38  suprd)  consort  of  Apdll6n.  Their  famous  infaint  Ion 
is,  like  EriChThonios  Creusa's  ancestor,  one  of  the  plentiful  Moses 
type  (see  "  The  Arcana  ").  Creusa  is  killed  by  Medea ;  arid  an 
enchanted  garment,  a  golden  chain,  and  a  crown  (all  well-known 
6ld  properties  of  the  great  stage  of  the  Universe  thedXx€)  are 
mixed-up  in  the  fables  of  her  death — Tor  all  the  mythological 
Creusas  must  be  fused  into  one. 

To  return  to  Colophon.  Herodotus  (i,  14)  makes  Gygfis 
(TiJ-yiy?),  ^the  hundred-armed  owner  of  the  Ring  of  invisibility, 
take  the  town  of  Kolophdn,  which  was  in  Lydia  (see  p.  146) 
where  dwelt  the  divine  Jack-of-all-trades  PoluTechnos.  Of  ccHirse 
this  heavens-ring  is  artother  allegory  of  the  god-hiding  Uhivefse- 
veil,  and  Gug^s  and  0-Gug^s  must  be  put  together.  Again 
Herodotus  (ii,  16)  makes  Aluatt^s  take  the  town  of  Smyrna,  built 
by  Koloph6n.  (A  Sn>yrna  was  also  built  by  TanTalos.)  Beskles, 
Koloph6n  was  otherwise  founded  by  Mopsos  the  great  diviner  and 
Argonaut,  grandson  of  Teiresias  (which  see),  and  One  of  the 
Lapithai  (which  see);  also  captain  of  the  Argives,  that  is  of  the 
heavens-gods.  In  this  last  quality  he  also  leads  a  col6hy  to  the 
mountains  of  Koloph6nia,  whefe  b^  founds  the  free  three-gated 
town  of  Phas^lis^-another  phase  of  the  self-same  city.  With 
which  city  too  may  be  connected  (f>d<rr)Xo^  the  bean  and  the  boat 
— ^in  fact  they  said  this  boat,  of  clay  and  reeds,  was  invented  in 
this  town.  Here  We  get  this  most  primitive  coracle  (as  a  type 
perhaps  of  the  archaically  coriceived  heavens-boat)  closely  con- 
nected with  the  tabooed  bean,  which  is  here  perhaps  ^/le  Beanstalk 
of  the  nursery-tale — tale  now  of  our  children's  nurseries,  then  of 
the  Nursery  of  the  human  race. 

AmphiMakos  (great  Dual  ?)  was  king  of  Koloph6n,  its  inhabi- 
tants were  famous  horse-men,  or  rather  central  horse-gods,  an 
ever-victorious  cavalry  that  decided  the  fate  of  battles  (Strabo  xiv, 

643 TO  ITTTTtKOV  T&V  Ko\o<f>(»>VL(i)v). 


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All  this  makes  for  Colophon  being  the  central  heavens-palace 
or  city  at  the  point  of  the  Universe-axis.  [See  also  "The 
CEdipus  Myths."] 


In  continuation  of  what  has  been  stated  above,  p.  62,  as  to  the 
fleur-de-Lis  at  the  point  of  the  Axis,  I  here  desire  to  signalise  it 
as  a  colophon  on  the  top  of  the  Pillar.  And  not 
alone  so,  but  I  suggest  that  such  was  the  simple 
original  of  the  Corinthian  capital.  This  example  is 
given  in  Donaldson's  Arc/uologia  Numismatica  (No. 
j  "  'T  27)*  where  others  may  be  seen  also,  from  temples  at 
I  I  Emessus  and  Antioch.  It  is  the  fashion  I  know  to 
say  that  the  architecture  on  such  coins  was  "conventional;"  but  I 
maintain,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  was  most  archaically  simple  and 
real  and  conservative. 

Dom  Riveti  in  that  great  undertaking  DHistoire  litt4raire  de  la  France^  by 
the  Benedictines  of  Saint-Maur  (ix,  199),  spoke  of  the  compass  as  an  invention  of 
the  1 2th  century,  and  due  to  France;  as,  said  he,  with  sanctam  simplicitateni, 
"  all  the  nations  of  the  universe  attest  by  the  fleur  de  lys  which  they  put  on  the 
wheel  (sur  la  rose)  at  the  North  point"  This  forms  a  sparkling  little  pendant 
to  what  is  stated  about  the  Nineveh  antiquities  at  p.  62  supra,  A  Benedictine 
too! 

*  See  also  Saglio*s  Diet,  i,  911— a  great  work  which  we  all  wish  to  see  completed. 


H  Q  i  1 

1  n  1^  B  I 

I  a  i  5 1 

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Myths.']  The  Dual  Pillars.  235 


20. — ^The  Dual  Pillars. 

ANOTHER  development  of  the  Cosmic  Japanese  Pillar  is  that 
to  the  divine  Pillar  of  the  heavens,  ame  no  mi-Hashira,*  is 
added  the  divine  Pillar  of  Earth,  kuni  no  mi-Hashira ;  that  is  the 
single  pillar  becomes  a  duality,  which  is  also  a  pair  of  deities,  male 
(heavens)  and  female  (Earth).  Though  a  pair  they  continue  to  be 
One,  a  duality  in  unity,"  which  is  a  conception  long  familiar  to  us 
in  Hind(i  and  other  mythologies,  and  is  besides  quite  in  accord 
with  the  yin-yang  Chinese  philosophical  and  cosmic  theory,  so 
fully  dealt-with  here  under  "  The  Tomoye  "  and  elsewhere. 

Thus  we  have  either  a  dual-pillar  or  two  pillars,  and  it  or  they 
arc  combined  with  a  sexual  dual  deity  or  pair  of  deities.  Let  us 
now  try  and  pursue  these  conceptions  through  other  mythologies  ; 
and  we  shall  eventually  find  that  there  is  even  yet  another  concep- 
tion of  the  two  pillars :  that  they  form  a  gateway,  through  which 
entrance  is  obtained  **  into  heaven."  (I  fancy  they  can  even  be 
detected  in  another  acceptation  as  being  the  N.  and  S.  pro- 
longations of  the  Earth-axis.) 

I  have  already  mentioned  (p.  220)  the  pair  of  pillars  in  front 
of  the  rock-cut  caves  at  Karli  and  Bedsa,  which  Fergusson*  called 
stambhas.  I  am  not  certain  whether  the  stambha  or  monolithic 
lat  does  not  properly  stand  alone  (see  p.  204  supra\  but  a  pair  of 
stambhas  would  be  an  apparent  parallel  to  the  dual-pillar  we  are 
here  considering;  There  are  another  such  pair  at  Dhumnar. 
"  On  either  side  of  the  detacJud  porch  of  the  Kylas*  at  Ellora  are  two  square 
pillars  called  deepdans  or  lamp-posts,  the  ornament  at  the  top  of  which 
possibly  represents  a  flame.  In  the  south  of  India  among  the  Jains  and  in 
Canara  such  pillars  are  very  common,  standing  either  singly  or  in  pairs  in  front 
of  the  gopuras  "  [gate-pyramids,  practically  torans  loaded  with  an  ornamented 
pyramid]  "and  always  apparently  intended  to  carry  lamps  for  festivals."  [This 
would  make  them  a  sort  of  fire-pillar  or  "  pillar  of  fire " — Agni  at  the  top  of 
the  Universe-axis  ?]  "They  generally  consist  of  a  single  block  of  granite, 
square  at  base,  changing  to  an  octagon,  and  again  to  a  figure  of  16  sides  (see 
p.  182  supra),  with  a  capital  of  very  elegant  shape.  Some  however  are  circular, 
and  indeed  their  variety  is  infinite."    "It  has  been  suggested  that  there  may 

*  Kozhikiy  i,  4.     Mr.  Chamberlain*s  version,  p.  19. 

«  Mr.  E.  M.  Satow  in  Trans.  As.  Soc  Jap.  vii,  417,  and  Pure  Shinid,  ^. 

*  Ind,  Arch,  113,  52,  117,  131,  336,  276. 

*  Is  not  Kylas  connected  with  xocXor  and  caelum  ? 


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be  some  connexion  between  these  stambhas  and  the  obelisks  of  the  Egyptians 
.    .    .    they  were  certainly  erected  for  similar  purposes,  and  occupied  the 
same  position  relatively  to  the  temples.^ 

Vishnu  in  his  fourth  av^tara  as  Narasitiha  the  man-Iion-god 
(see  also  p.  203  supra),  may  be  seen  depicted  as  bursting  forth  from 
a  splitting  pillar,  that  is  a  pillar  dividing  itself  into  two,  to  avenge 
the  blasphemy  of  Hiranya-kasipu  who  had  pointed  to  a  Pillar  and 
derisively  asked  :  "  Is  theti  the  god  here  ?"  This  strikes  one  as  a 
very  rnriportant  record  of  the  reality  of  the  archaic  faith.  It  is  also, 
it  seems  to  me  a  doublet  of  the  tree-myth  of  Osiris. 

The  Egyptian  always  put  up  a  pair  of  obelisks  before  the 
portico  of  his  temples  (see  p.  200  si  pro).  Among  all  that  are 
now  known,  whether  at  Rome,  Constantinople,  Velleri,  Benevento, 
Florence,  Catania,  Aries,  Paris,  London,  Luxor,  Karnak,  On  or  An 
(HeliopoHs)  6r  Alexandria,  there  is  no  instance  of  a  single  obelisk. 
This  might  be  Apposed  to  tell  against  the  Universe-axis  sym- 
bolism of  the  obelisk,  had  we  not  the  Japanese  dedoubdement  to 
enlighten  us  ;  and  the  pair  of  obelisks  therefore  must  also  have  a 
dual  signification. 

There  was  an   An   of  the  North  (Heliopolis)   ll^*^"^   and 

there  was  also  an  An  of  the  South  (Hermonthis)  | .   -=4-^  "^  (which 

appear  to   imply  the  N.  and  S.  prolongation  of  the  Axis).     An 
means  column  or  mountain.     Hermonthis  was  also  Called  Anment 

l^'^^^^lli  a^^   l^jlllv^*     All  these  hieroglyphs  clearly  denote 
pillars,  obelisks,  pyramids,  and  the  like  (see  p.  199  supra). 

The  dual  world-pillar  must  also  be  discerned  in  the  columns 
of  H^raKl^s,  and  **the  end  of  the  world"  where  they  were 
situated  must  -be  taken  to  be  the  axial  extremity.  The  function 
of  HeraKl^s  relieving  Atlas  in  supporting  the  heavens  clesirly 
belongs  to  the  same  dual  conception.  The  legends  also  say  that 
H^raKlds  separated  two  mountains  to  form  the  columns  ;  and  we 
shall  see  in  Vol.  II  how  the  Pillar  and  the  Mountain  afford 
variants  of  one  and  the  same  cosmic  image.  Charax  of  Pergamos 
said  the  pillars  of  Kronos  (see  p.  191  supra)  were  afterwards 
called  the  columns  arrjXai  of  Briareos,  and  then  truly  of  Hdra- 
Kl^s."  Then  there  are  Homer's  tall  pillars  which  have  about 
them  Earth  and  heavens. 

*  Ind,  Arch.  113,  $2,  1 17,  131,  336,  276.  ^  Didot's  Fra-.  Hist,  Crete,  iii,  640. 


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Myths?^  The  Dual  Pillars.  ^37 

H^raKles  (in  the  Argonautika,  i,  1305)  kills,  in  sea-girt  Tenos, 
the  two  sons  of  Thracian  Boreas  (Thr^ikios  Boreds)  as  they  return 
from  the  funeral-games  of  Pelias  (Pelies)  ;  "and  he  piled  the 
earth  about  them,  and  set  up  two  pillars  (crnyXiy)  above  them, 
whereof  the  one,  an  exceeding  n>arvel  for  men  to  $ee,  is  stirred  by 
the  breath  of  the  noisy  nprth-wind^ "  (Kivrrrac  ij^^ei/rov  vtto  7rvoc§ 
Bopi^ta).  The  last  phrase  (i,  1308)  is  meaningless  as  rendered. 
Doe3  it  not  refer  to  Boreas  blowing  round  the  sphere  ypon  its 
axis?  Below  (p.  243)  are  given  other  instances  of  wind-gods 
filling  such  mythic  functions.  Elsewhere  (iii,  160)  Apollonios  say3 
that  there  is  a  path  down  from  heaven  at  the  heavenly  gates  of 
Olympus  where  "the  world's  two  poles,  the  highest  points  on 
earth,  uphold  steep  mountain-tops  "  (Soto)  Bk  woXoc  apij^ovat  xdprjva 
ovpecDv  TfKif^aTfovy  Kopv<f>al  j^ ^01/09). 

We  have  a  dual  pillar,  I  fancy,  in  Pausanias  (ix,  8,  3  ;  i,  34) 
where,  on  the  road  from  P-otniae  to  Thebes  there  was  a  small 
enclosure  with  pillars  met^  where  the  Earth  opened  for  AmphiAraos, 
whose  name  indicates  a  Dual-Ar^s.  "  Men  say,  to  this  day,  that 
neither  do  birds  perch  upon  the  pillars,  nor  do  apimals  tame  ox, 
wild  f^ed  on  the  gras^." 

Melqarth  was  worshipped  at  Tyre  in  the  form  of  two  pillars,? 
and  Captain  Conder  describes  a  double-pillar  of  red  granite  which 
he  calls  a  "  twin-shaft  and  also  a  "  magnificent  monolith  27  feet 
long,"  of  which  "  each  half-column  "  is  42  inches  in  diameter,  on 
the  site  of  that  god's  temple  there.^ 

F.  Lenormant*  said  that  the  two  stelae  mentioned  in  the  Sanchoniathon.fi;ag- 
ments  as  having  been  set  up  on  distant  shores  by  Ouso  (Us6os  or  Usoiis)  to  Fir^ 
and  Wind  Tsee  p.  244  infra)  and  which  are  shown  so  often  on  the  coins  of 
Tyre,  were  two  submarine  natural  conical  rocks  called  irirpcu  afifipoaruu.  This 
last  is  startling  ;  and  he  quotes  Nonnus  (Dionys  xl,  467  to  476). 
"  Two  pillars  also  stood  before  the  temples  of  Paphos  (see  p.  254 
infra)  and  Hierapolis,  and  Solomon  set  up  two  brazen  pillars 
before  his  temple  at  Jerusalem.  He  named  the  right  one  the 
Stablisher,  and  the  left  Strength.*  They  were  doubtless  symbols 
of  Jehovah."'  "Whether  the  two  ghart  at  Hiraand  Paid  belong  to 
a  pair  of  gods,  or  are  a  double  image  of  one  deity,  cannot  be 
decided."'     As  already  stated,  we  may  perhaps  incline  to  the  dual- 

*  Mr.  C.  p.  Coleridge's  version,  p.  48.  *  Herod,  ii,  44. 
'  /J^th  and  Afpa^by  p.  90. 

*  Saglio,  Diet,  des  A»tu],  i,  642.     Didpt's  Frag,  Hist.  Grac.  ii,  556. 

*  i  Kings  \\\^  21  ;  ii  Chroit.  iii,  17.  ®  Retig,  of  Semites^  191,  \^. 


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238  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

deity  conception  everywhere,  thus  coinciding  too  with  another 
remark  of  Prof.  Robertson  Smith's :  "  A  god  and  a  goddess  were 
often  worshipped  together,  and  then  each  would  have  a  pillar."^ 

It  seems  possible  from  what  I  am  about  to  state,  that  in  the 
case  of  these  "  symbols  of  Jehovah  "  one  pillar  may  have  indicated 
the  Shekinah  of  the  Talmud  and  the  Rabbis,  and  the  old 
interpretation  of  these  pillars  need  not  be  wholly  forgotten :  the 
right  was  called  Jachin  or  Jehovah's  strength,  the  left  Booz,  that  is 
Beauty. 

(I  shall  just  mention  here  the  statement  of  Mr.  Demetrius  Mosconas'  that 
these  words  Booz  and  Jachin  read  backwards  have,  oddly  enough,  a  male  and 
female  meaning  in  the  '*  Egypto- Chaldean  "  words  zoob  and  nichaj.) 

By  kabbalistic  combination,  the  ineffable  name  JTliT'  Jehovah  expresses 
a  duality  in  the  godhead,  a  he  and  a  she,  HO  (that  is  he)  and  his  Schechinah. 
"  The  divine  husband  and  wife"  is  mentioned  in  the  Jewish  liturgy  for  Pente- 
cost, and  also  in  the  daily  formula  :  "  In  the  name  of  the  union  of  the  holy  and 
blessed  H(i  and  his  Schechinah,  the  hidden  and  concealed  Hd,  blessed  be 
Jehovah  for  ever."  The  name  HA,  and  the  familiar  name  Yah  are  of  masculine 
and  feminine  gender  respectively  ;  and  the  union  of  the  two  forms  the  name  of 
*TnM  mrf  one  Jehovah  ;  one,  but  of  a  bisexual  nature,  according  to 
kabbalists.  HO  and  Yah  in  separate  form  used  to  be  invoked  in  the  second 
Temple  on  the  seventh  day  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  ;  an  imitation  of  which, 
attended  with  all  the  ancient  ceremonials  now  possible,  may  annually  be 
witnessed  in  the  orthodox  synagogues  to  this  day.* 

Ashtoreth  was  the  Meleket-has-shamayim,  the  queen  of  the  heavens  (^xn  Jeremiah 
vii,  i8;  xliv,  17  to  19,  25)  who  must  have  been  the  dual  goddess  of  Baal- 
shamayim,  the  Lord  of  the  heavens.*  In  the  Sanchoniathon  fragments,  ShiUna 
(Ouranos)  weds  his  sister  Addmdth  (G^).* 

Pious  Jews  on  retiring  to  rest  repeat  three  times  in  Hebrew  :  "  In  the  name  of 
Yeya  'J'^  the  god  of  Israel     On  my  right-hand  is  Michat^l,  and  on  my  left 

Gabri&l  before  me  is  Arifel  and  behind  me  Raphael  ;  over  my  head  is  the 
Schechinah  of  god.""  An  obvious  predecessor  of  our  "  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke 
and  John,  Pray  bless  the  bed  that  I  lay  on,"  and  a  support  to  what  has  been 
already  argued  above,  p.  165. 

Alexander  Polyhistor  said  that  an  idol  in  the  temple  of  B^los 
at  Babyl6n  was  hi -sexual  and  two-headed.' 

In  the  Life  of  Laurence  Oliphant,'  it  is  stated  that  "  the  Swedenborgian 
theory  replaces  the  trinity  by  a  father  and  mother  god,  a  twofold  instead  of  a 
threefold  unity — the  godhead  made  up  of  a  father  and  mother,  the  masculine 

*  Rdif^,  of  Semites,  191.  193.  «  OMisques  d  Egypte,  Alexandria,  1877,  p.  2. 
»  Rabbinical  comment,  on  Genesis,  by  P.  J.  Hershon,  1885,  p.  138,  302. 

*  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  VArt  dans  Pctnt,  iii,  68.  *  F.  Lenormant,  Ori^.  1,  542. 

*  The  reference  for  this  is  lost.  At  p.  212  of  Didot*s  Fmg.  Hist,  Cure,  vol.  ii, 
Alex  P.  says  B6I0S  was  vulgarly  called  Kronos. 

7  By  Mrs.  M.  O.  W.  Oliphant,  ii,  4,  199, 


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Myths^  The  Dual  Pillars.  «39 


and  the  feminine  in  one  person."  This  would,  of  course,  be  a  mere  perpetuation 
of  previous  similar  beliefs,  but  Mr.  J.  J.  G.  Wilkinson*  by  no  means  accords 
with  this,  for  Swedenborg  held  "  a  trinity  (not  of  persons,  but)  of  person  in  the 
godhead.'*  It  is  certainly  further  said  that  "  the  sexual  distinction  is  founded 
upon  the  two  radical  attributes  of  God,  his  love  and  his  wisdom,  whereof  the 
former  is  feminine,  and  the  latter  masculine.**  And  then  again  we  hear  that 
Jacob  B5hme*s  "  doctrine  of  the  bi-sexual  Adam  establishes  between  him  and 
Swedenborg  a  gulf  not  to  be  overpassed.'*  Small  is  the  matter  of  it,  and  small 
the  blame  to  them  all  for  not  being  too  crystal-clear  about  it. 

The  same  idea  that  we  have  above  in  the  two  Jerusalem  pillars 
was  of  course  carried  out  also  in  Indian  religion  where  (in  the 
sculptures  of  the  caves  of  Elephanta)  the  god  Siva  is  to  the  right 
and  his  wife  P4rvati  to  the  left  (In  Japan  the  moon-god  was 
bom  from  the  right  eye  of  Izanagi,  and  the  sun-goddess  from  his 
left  eye.) 

The  Russian  Abbot  Daniel,  who  did  his  pilgrimage  to  the  holy  land  in 
1 1 06,  said  that  "  a  verst  or  half  a  verst  from  Sigor,  towards  the  S.  on  an  eleva- 
tion, there  is  a  stone  column  which  is  L6t*s  wife.  I  have  seen  this  with  my  own 
eyes.***  (This  ought  to  indicate  that  *L6t  might  =  lit  ?)  Ldt,  in  the  Persian 
Moslem  legends,  slept  on  a  stone,  in  which  he  left  the  impression  of  his  blessed 
body,  and  his  name  is  brought  from  the  "  Arabic  root  //4/.**»  He  is  also  given 
12  daughters,  which  is  a  zodiacal  token.  His  wife  too  is  killed  by  a  turning 
rock,  striking  her  head.  We  have  a  Greek  divine  pair  PanDareos  and 
HermoThea  both  turned  to  stone  as  a  punishment.  But  immense  numbers  of 
deities  are  stones  or  are  seen  turned  to  stones  in  the  course  of  this  Inquiry; 
nor  have  I,  doubtless,  attained  mention  of  half  of  them. 

Francois  Lenormant,  writing  of  Bacchus  in  Saglio's  Dictionnaire 
(i,  616)  said  that  the  symbolism  of  all  the  peoples  of  antiquity 
established  an  intimate  relation  between  the  humid  principle  and 
^1^  female  principle  in  Nature  ;  water  being  feminine,  while  fire  is 
masculine.  (This,  again,  of  course  accords  with  the  Chinese  yin- 
yang  philosophy.)  He  adds  that  Bacchus,  as  representing  warm- 
humidity,  was  for  that  reason  essentially  a  god  of  undecided  sex 
and  physique ;  a  half-man  ylrevSdvoDp  ;  effeminate,  at  the  same  time 
masculine  and  feminine  ap<r€v66rfKv^,  ^vvvi^,  Orikv^p^ov,  the  male 
personification,  as  it  were,  of  the  female  principle.*  Agdistis  was 
of  both  sexes,  that  is  was  a  dual  nature-god,  and  seems  to  have 
divided,    in    the    myths,    into   Attis    and   Cybel^   (  =  Agdistis).* 

*  Emanuel  Swedenborg  (2nd  cd.),  1 886,  pp.  135,  177,  230. 
'  Pal.  Pilgrims'  Text  Soc.  1888,  p.  47. 

'  Mirkhond's  Rauzai-us-Safay  1891,  pp.  156,  154. 

*  Lucian,  Dialog,  deo*-,  23.  Suidas,  ylrfvdavmp.  Orphic  hymn  xliv,  4.  Arnobius 
vi,  12. 

*  M.  P.  Dechanne  in  Saglio's  DuL  i,  168 1. 


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240  ,  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

It  seems  quite  possible  that  AmphiOn  simply  means  the 
dual-being.  See  also  what  is  said  as  to  Kekrops  under  the 
heading  **  AgLauros."  The  Japanese  gods  of  MetaJ,  according  to 
Hirata  Atsutane,  are  a  male  and  female  pair  viewed  as  a  single 
deity.*  The  subject  of  the  dual-sexed  divinity  would  admit  of 
endless  development ;  and  the  same  conception  — so  correct  and 
familiar  in  vegetable  nature— wais  also  of  course  current  about 
humanity. 


Genesis  v.  2  reads  (in  the  "  Elohistic  "  portion) :  "  male  and  female  Elohim 
created  them,  and  blessed  them,  and  named  them  of  their  name  Adiml"  Jewis'h 
traditional  legends  in  the  Targumim  and  the  Talmud,  as  well  as  the  leanied 
philosopher  Moses  Maimonides,  say  that  Adam  was  thus  created  bi-sex^ial, 
having  two  faces  turned  different  ways ;  and  what  occurred  during  the  deep 
sleep  was  the  separation  of  'Havih  the  feminine  half.  Eusebius  of  Caesarea* 
accepted  this,  and  thought  Plato's  account  in  the  Banquet  (where  Aristophanes 
is  made  to  relate  the  similar  legend  about  early  humanity)  entirely  agreeable 
to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  Other  theologians  have  upheld  and  developed  this  ; 
for  example  St  Augustin,  de  Gubbio  (theologian  to  Pope  Paul  III  at  the 
council  of  Trent,  and  prefect  of  the  Vatican  library),  and  the  minor  friar 
Francesco  Giorgi  (i522).*  Berosusalso  in  his  Phoenician  cosmogony  speaks  of 
two-headed  bi-sexual  hitman  beings  bom  in  the  bosom  of  Chaos  at  the  origin.* 
The  first  Zoroastrian  couple  was  a  two-faced  androgyn,  split-up  later  by  Ahura 
Mazda.  In  the  RigVeda,  Yama  is  the  first  man,  yama  means  twin,  and  yam 
to  hold.  The  same  physiological  theory  is  in  the  Sataphtha-brdhmanaj'^nd  we 
find  it  also  in  a  Vedic  legend  where*  Sasiyasl's  husband  Taranta  Rajah  is 
called  "  the  man  her  half  (nemah)."  In  the  Smriti  it  is  said  that  a  wife  is  the 
half  of  the  body  (arddham  sarfrasya  bhiryi),  which  still  survives  in  the  playful 
"your  better  half"  of  colloquial  English;  and  the  dual  yin-yangidea  breaks 
forth  in  modern  coUpquial  Japanese,  where  the  word  '  sex '  is  expressed  by  the 
(Chinese)  compound  nan-niyo=|nan- woman.  (See  also  the  twin-duality  under 
"  The  Dokapa.")  ' 

As  to  the  starting-point  of  the  dual  divine  and  human  nature,  which  may 
have  founded  the  dual  number  in  languages,  we  need  to  seek  no  further  than 
the  two  sexes  in  nature.  The  theory  that  refers  this  duality  to  the  two  halves 
of  the  brain — ^the  two  brains,  as  lately  developed  by  Dr.  C.  E.  Brown -Si^uard* 
— seems  to  me  completely  off  the  spot.  Were  the  initial  idea  of  duality  to  be  thus 
referred  to  our  own  internal  consciousness,  then  the  prototype  would  necessarily 
be  the  Wille  and  the  Intellect,  as  represented  by  the  spinal  system  and  the 
brain. 

In  HaeckeFs  views  of  evolution,  as  now  professed  by  M.  Alfred 
Giard  at  the  Sorbonne,  "  the  point  of  departure  is  the  Egg,  which 

»  Mr.  Satow's  Pure  Skmtd,  p.  S6,  ^  Pr<tp,  Evang.  xii,  535. 

'  F.  Lenormant :  Orig.  i,  55.  *  Didot's  Frag.  I/ist.  Gr<fc,  ii,  497. 

*  Rig  V,  iii,  345  (Wilson's).  •  Forufft,  August  1S90. 


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My/^s,]  The  Dual  Pillars,  241 

is  one  simple  cell.  After  fecundation,  this  cell-egg  splits  into  two 
identically-like  cells,  then  each  of  these  divides  again  into  two 
others,  and  so  on ;  the  phenomenon  being  known  as  *  segmenta- 
tion/ "  This  may  implant  the  idea  of  duality  in  the  very  marrow 
of  our  existence,  in  the  protoplasm  of  our  thoughts. 


ft  is  worth  bearing  in  mind  that  the  Egyptian  hieroglyph  which  indicated 
the  plural  was  the  number  3,  III  or  j.  Its  pronunciation  was  u  jO.  Or  the 
plural  was  formed  by  tripling  the  hieroglyph  of  the  singular  noun.  Thus 
duality  was  ijot  plurality  ;  and  this  is  a  radical  fact  to  remember  in  mythologies 
where  single  gods  split  into  a  duality  ;  which  again  has  its  reaction  earlier  on 
speech  ap4  later  on  grammar,  as  just  above  theorised. 

The  pomegranates  and  lilies  (fleur-de-lis  or  lotus  ? )  on  Solomon's  pillars 
are  of  course  generative  emblems,  and  the  decoration  of  the  capitals  >yas  ip  7 
compartments.  The  phallic  significance  of  the  Axis  has  been  already  touched 
ppon  (p.  66),  and  the  polar  consecration  of  the  number  Sevei^  will  follow  later. 

The  praying  priests  who  yearly  ascended  to  the  top  of  the  pillars  or  phalli, 
which  Bacchus  returning  from  India  placed  at  HierapoUs,  must  have  been  a 
sort  of  steeple-Jack-priests  ;  for  they  made  themselves  crow's-nests^  and  pulled 
up  their  provisions  by  a  rope  ;  thpy  ajsp  beat  a  brass  instrument,  when  praying 
for  the  blessing  of  the  gods  upon  Syria,  and  so  stayed-up  for  7  days  and  7  nights 
{De  Dea  Syra).  "  Lucian "  here  goes  on  to  say  that  everyone  who  puts  up  a 
phallus  to  Bacchus  puts  a  wooden  man  on  its  summit,  for  a  reason  he  would 
not  tell  ("  for  the  best  reason  in  the  world;"  perhaps,  in  his  own  case)  ;  but  it 
appeared  to  him  that  the  men  ascended  the  phalli  at  Hierapofis  to  represent  this 
wooden  man.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  original  imagery  was  not  phalUc 
at  all,  but  indicated  the  supreme  deity  at  the  summit  of  the  Universe-axis. 

In  the  time  of  Vitruvius,  round  towers  which  had  an  e^g-shaped  poinf  were 
called  phalse  ;  and  the  defence-towers  of  camps  and  towns  in  the  middle  ages 
had  the  same  name,  says  Ducange.  But  Festus  gave/a/a,  and  said  they  were 
so  called  because  of  their  height,  from  falando,  which  with  the  Etruscans 
meant  the  sky  (a  falando,  quod  apud  Etruscps  sjgnificat  caelum).  "  Falando/' 
somehow,  does  not  look  all  right 

The  device  of  the  order  pf  the  Gplden  Fleece  (which  I  always 
maintain  tp  be  the  starry  heavens)  contains  two  pillars,  with  the 
motto  Plus  ultra;  and  we  must  see  the  same  dual  Universe- pilla|* 
on  the  famous  pillar -dollars  ;  which  the  Arabs  however,  viewing 
them  horizontally,  call  "  the  father  pf  big  guns." 

On  Zt2/^r^  Sunday  (4th  in  Lent,  our  Simnel  or  Mothering  Sunday), 
at  Halberstadt,  the  canons  of  the  cathedral  used  in  the  13th  century 
to  fix  in  the  groynd  before  the  church  two  posts  six  feet  high  with 
a  wooden  cone  a  foot  high  on  the  top  of  each — a  strong  reminder  of 
the  phalae.  They  then  played  with  sticks  and  stones  at  knocking 
off  the  cones — just  the  '*  three-sticks-a-penny  *'  of  our  fairs   and 

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242  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

race-meetings.  This  was  also  done  at  Hildesheim  on  the  following 
Saturday.^  This  was  said  to  be  a  commemoration  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Irminsul  by  Charlemagne,  but  the  statement  is  obviously 
an  antiquarian's  shot,  and  is  besides  needless  and  unmeaning. 

Lord  Tennyson  has  been  struck  by  the  dual-pillar  conception  as  it  appeared 
in  Mailduinn's  Voyage. 

And  we  came  in  an  evil  time  to  the  Isle  of  the  Double  Towers ; 

One  was  of  smooth-cut  stone,  one  carved  aU  over  with  flowers. 

(The  subject  of  duality  in  gods,  irrespective  of  sexuality,  will  be 
taken  up  under  the  headings  of  "  The  Dokana  "  and  "  The  Two 
Kabeiroi,"  as  to  whose  double  column  see  p.  201  supra.) 

It  has  been  theorised  (for  example  by  F.  G.  Bergmann)  that  "the  great 
perch  or  pole,  or  the  two  tree-trunks,  or  two  oriented  masts,'^  were  sacred  to 
the  Sun  ;  but  I  have  never  met  with  a  confirmation  or  proof  of  this.  I  suppose 
the  idea  is  that  the  two  posts  were  erected  to  give  the  meridian  by  their 
shadows ;  but  this  is  my  own  gloss  (so  far  as  I  know) ;  and  I  have  met  with 
just  one  factlet  to  suggest  fiirther  enquiry  into  this  in  the  statement  in  Plato's 
Republic  {s^S  DE)  that  the  two  columns  surmounted  by  gilt  eagles  on  the  top 
of  Mount  Lukaios,  were  to  the  £.  of  the  earthen-mound-altar  of  Zeus  Lukaios. 
Chambers's  Handbook  of  Astronomy  (4th  ed.  ii,  195)  shows  how  with  one  pole 
and  its  shadow,  and  concentric  circles,  the  meridian  may  be  nearly  got  at  Mid- 
summer ;  and  Ptolemy  in  the  Almagest  (iii,  2)  described  a  single  pole  at  Alexan- 
dria, for — with  a  knowledge  of  the  exact  N. — getting  an  approximation  to  noon. 


"  Then  Adons^i  answered  Job  out  of  the  whirlwind,  and  said  ....** 
— (jQbxxxy\\\y  I.) 

THE  PILLAR  WINDGODS.  The  superfoetation  of  the  Pillar 
symbolism  did  not  come  to  an  end  in  Japan  when  the  pillar  and  its 
god  became  dual ;  for  this  dual  deity  was  also  worshipped  there  in 
archaic  times  as  the  male  and  female  gods  of  Shina  or  Wind,  as 
the  valuable  old  rituals  translated  by  Mr.  E.'M.  Satow  show.' 

Why  the  winds  shoiild  be  thus  identified  with  the  pillars  that 
support  the  heavens  has  long  puzzled  the  commentators.  The 
difficulty  seems  to  lie  in  not  analysing  the  secondary  idea  Wind,  as 
here  employed  ;  and  we  actually  find  (as  Mr.  Satow  pointed  out) 
that  the  alternative  wind-name  for  the  pillar-gods,  Shina,  can  mean 
'  long-breathed.'     Here  we  have  the  idea  of  the  atmosphere,  the 

*  Eckart,  De  rebus  Framue^  Wurzburg,  1729,  p.   221.      Meibom,   De  Irnunsula 
Saxonua,  p.  20,  (in  M.  Goblet*s  book  p.  142). 

•  Gyl/a  Ginning,  2nd  ed.  223. 

■  Tram,  As.  Soc.  Jap.  vii,  418  ;  Pure  ShintS,  82,  83,  86  ;  Handbook  of  Japan,  396. 


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MythsJ]  The  Dual  Pillars.  243 

motion  of  which  gives  wind,  and  of  course  we  currently  talk  of  a 
broken-winded  horse  and  of  a  runner  getting  his  second  wind  and 
so  on.  Thus  the  notion  of  representing  the  heavens  to  be  upheld, 
and  the  space  bet^\'een  Earth  and  heavens  to  be  filled,  as  a  bladder 
is  filled,  by  the  resisting  air  seems  neither  strained  nor  far-fetched, 
although  it  is  a  conception  of  a  quite  different  order  from  that  of 
the  heavens-pillars,  and  perhaps  of  a  later  date  than  the  pillar- 
myth  ;  and  this  theory  finds  support  in  Mr.  Satow's  surmise  that 
"  the  worship  of  the  Winds  at  Tatsuta  seems  to  date  from  after  the 
introduction  of  Buddhism."^ 

The  ancient  norito  or  ritual  is  for  the  worship  of  the  kami  "  to  whom  is 
consecrated  the  Palace  built  with  stout  Pillars  at  TatsuTa  no  TachiNu  in 
YamaTo."  Of  course  this  is  for  me  a  symbol  of  the  heavens-palace  ;  and  it  is 
at  least  odd  that  tatsu  (or  tatu)  to  stand,  is  as  like  the  tat  of  Ptah  (see  p.  219 
supra)  as  we  could  desire  to  have  it.  Then  tachi  (or  tati)  comes  from  tatsu, 
ta  =  field,  and  nu  =  jewel ;  yama  is  mountains,  and  to  may  be  gate  or  place. 
Thus  the  name  of  the  site  of  the  palace  or  temple  to  these  gods  is  "  the  upright 
(or  upheld)  jewel  of  the  upheld-fields  of  the  mountains-place  or  -gate."  All 
which  is  celestial,  as  will  be  seen  on  reference  \o  nu-ho)^  p.  67  supra^  and 
the  Section  on  "  The  Heavens-Mountain"  in  VoL  II. 

There  is  another  point  of  contact  between  the  pillar  and  the 
wind  ideas  in  the  belief  that  these  Japanese  wind-gods  bear  the 
prayers  of  men  to  the  supernal  powers,  and  therefore  are,  in  this 
sense,  a  means  of  communication  between  Earth  and  heavens. 

But  what  I  have  been  ai^uing  about  the  pillar-win^s  seems 
now  almost  superfluous,  for,  just  as  this  Section  is  going  to  the 
Printers,  I  find  (5th  December  1891)  that  the  very  same  idea  of 
the  winds  as  pillars  is  in  the  Ethiopic  Book  of  Enoch  :* 

"  I  then  surveyed  the  receptacles  of  all  the  Winds,  perceiving  that  in  them 
were  the  ornaments  of  the  whole  creation,  and  the  foundation  of  the  Earth. 
I  surveyed  the  Stone,  the  Comers  of  the  Earth.  I  also  beheld  the  4  Winds 
which  bear-up  the  Earth  ai^d  the  firmament  of  the  heavens.  And  I  beheld  the 
Winds  occupying  the  Height  of  the  heavens ;  arising  in  the  middle  of  the 
heavens  and  of  Earth,  and  constituting  the  Pillars  of  the  heavens.  I  saw 
the  Winds  which  turi^  the  sky,  which  cause  the  orb  (?  sphere)  of  th^  sim  ^nd  of 
all  the  stars  to  set ;  and  over  the  Earth  I  saw  the  Winds  which  support  the 
clouds." 

This  parallel  is  on^  of  the  very  numerous  happy  coincidences 
that  constantly  l^eep  turning  up  fo^  me  in  the  course  of  this  Inquiry ^ 
and  lead  me  to  believe^  a^  to  its  main  theox)',  that  "  there  may  be 
something  in  it"  Tlie  Book  of  Enoch  too  is  here  quite  accordant 
with  what  the  SCibbas  say  of  the  four  Winds  (p.  160  supra), 

^Murrf^y*s  Hi^nddif^k  of  Japan,  p.  7a       *  Laurence's  translation,  1821,  xviii,  i  to  6. 

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244  The  Night  of  the  Gods,  [A. 


xts 


That  this  Book  of  Enoch  was  in  great  part  a  mystic  cosmic  rhapsody,  of 
the  same  school  with  the  grapd  Apocalypse  which  has  found  a  restingplace  in 
the  Christian  New  Testament^  must  strike  even  the  most  casual  and  careless 
reader.     Bishop  Laurence  (p.  xli)  also  said  the  Book  copied  Daniel 

In  the  RigVeda  the  Maruts,  the  Wind-gods,  and  also,  as  I 
desire  to  make  them,  the  MiH-gods  (root  mar  grind,  whence  mola 
mahlen  mill  mortar)  "  brought-together  heavens  and  Earth,  both 
firmly  established  "  (vi,  (^^  6)  ;  **  heavens  and  Eartji  were  joined 
together "  by  the  strength  of  the  Maruts  (viii,  20,  4).  Not  alone 
so,  but  they  "hold  heavens  and  Earth  .asunder"  (viii,  94,  11),  just 
as  we  shall  see  Indra  doing  in  the  Section  on  "  The  Wheel " : 
"  powerfully  separating  two  wheels  with  the  axle,  as  it  were,  Indra 
fasteneth  heavens  ai)d  E^rth  "  ;  and  Indra  wjas  the  fellow  of  the 
Maruts.  Here  it  seems  to  me  indubitable  that  we  also  have 
the  Winds  as  axis-gods. 

See  too  the  very  remarkable  Greek  connexiofi  of  Boreas  with 
the  two  pills^rs  just  giyen  abgv^  (p,  237) ;  nor  should  I  here  omit 
fresh  mention  of  the  fampus  Tower  of  the  Winds  at  Athens. 
Among  the  most  famous  of  ancient  pillars  are  the  two  (already 
mentioned,  p.  237)  erected  by  Usoiis,  brother  of  HypsOuranios 
(=  over-heavens,  or  beyond-tail }  see  pp.  23, 46),  to  Fire  and  Wind, 
whose  worship  he  instituted.^  In  New  Zealand  the  wind-god  of 
the  hurricane  dwells  near  his  father  Rangi,  the  heavep^-god,  in  the 
free  air.? 

Hasan  ben  Sabbih  (afterwards  better  known  to  hig  allies  the  Templars  ^& 
the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain),  Omar  Al Khayyam!  thje  poet-a^tronqmer,  and 
NizAm-ul-Mulk  the  vizjer,  were  all  three  sworn  schoolboy  friends.  Hasan,  the 
Assassin,  ultimately  had  Nizim  k^ll^d  after  his  own  fashion,  and  **  when  Nizim- 
ul-Mulk  was  in  the  agony  he  said  *  Oh  Allah  !  I  am  pa^sin^  away  in  the  hand 
pf  thp  Win(f  ! ' "  Omar  seems  to  have  used  this  :* 

With  them  the  seed  of  wisdom  did  I  sow, 

And  with  mine  own  hand  wrought  to  make  it  grow  \ 

And  this  was  all  the  harvest  that  I  reaped — 
'  \  came  like  Water,  and  Ijke  Wind  I  gp.^ 

[On  the  subject  of  the  Universe -Axis  as  pillar,  column,  spine,  umbrella- 
stick,  chunj-Stick,  treetrunk,  lance,  arrow,  spear^  pole-axe,  tower,  spindle, 
ladder ;  and  even  as  cord  and  line,  I  would  beg  the  reader  to  turn  to  Dr. 
Warren's  Paradise  Found;  the  Cradle  of  the  Htfman  Race  cU  tfu  North  Pole,'] 


*  Euscb.  Pfep,  Mv.  i,  10.     Didot's  /ra^.  Iftst.  Grac.  iii,  566, 

*  Lang's  Custom  and  Myth. 

■  FitzGerald's  Omar  Khayydm^  4th  ed.  1879,  pp.  vi,  8. 


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Myi/isJ\        The  '*  Gate  of  Heaven^'  or  Dokana.  ^45 


ai^-^^The  "Gate  of  Heaven>^^  or  Dokana. 

"  Have  the  Gates  of  Death  been  revealed  unto  thee  ?  or  hast  thou  seen  the 
ftates  of  the  shadow  of  the  dead  ?" — (Job  xxxviii,  17.) 


{in  order  to  complete  the  dual-pillar,  I  am  here  forced  to  anticipate  some 
of  thte  Sections  oti  "The  Number  Seven"  and  also  on  "The  Two  Kabeifoi,"  in 
which  latter  the  DiosKouroi  will  also  be  dealt  with.] 


AVERY  strahge  point  about  the  DiosKouroi  is  or  are  their 
^oKavoj  their  most  ancient  presentment  in  Lakonia  where 
Welcker  put  the  origin  of  the  symbol  >  Bottiger  saying  Asia,  and 
especially  Phoenicia. 

^Kova  from  doK<$r,  a  baulk  of  timber,  a  word  which  i  suggest  embraces  the 
same  senses  in  Greek  that  axds  does  in  Latin,  namely  those  of  axle-tree  and 
beam-of-wood  or  plank. 

This  or  these  mysterious  symbol  or  symbols  consisted  of  two 
upright  and  parallel  timbers  joined  transversely  by  two  others ; 
and  represented  the  DiosKouroi  in  their  fraternal  union  ;  for  at  times 
the  twins  bore  the  duplex  emblem  complete  ;  at  others,  when  the 
divine  brothers  wiere  separate,  each  carried  orie  half  of  the  iok&va  ^ 
an  exact  parallel  to  the  halves  of  the  Roman  tablet  called  tessera 
hospitalis,  or  of  the  common  tally>  or  of  a  true-lover's  token,  or  of 
an  ancient  terra-cotta  or  other  passport^  all  over  the  Eastern  and 
modern  worlds. 

The  tessera  hospitalis  t>f  the  Romans,  the  av/ifioKov  oT  the  Greeks,  atid  thfe 
chirs  aelychoth,  the  shetd  of  guest-friendship,  t)f  the  Carthaginians,  have  all 
been  connected  by  Ihering,  Haberiand,  Leist,  ahd  Dr.  O.  Schrader.*  King 
Hakon  of  Nofway,  in  the  23rd  chapter  of  his  Saga,  splits-up  a  war-arrow, 
which  hfe  sent  off  in  all  directions,  and  by  that  a  number  of  men  were  collected 
in  all  haste."* 

The  word  dokana  is  kept  quite  out  of  ken  in  the  etymologies  of  our  own 
word  token^  though  the  resemblance  both  of  the  things  and  -of  the  words  is 
striking.  MiddleEnglish  token,  AngloSaxoti  tdceti  tdcn,  Dutch  teeken,  Ice- 
landic tdkn  teikh,  Danish  tegn,  Swedish  teeken,  German  zeichen,  Gothic 
taikns,  are  all  cited  by  Prof.  Skeat,  who  says  index  is  also  from  the  same  root  : 
which  is  €Uk  to  shew.     But  dokana  is  left  out  in  the  cold. 

The  DiosKouroi  were  also  War-gods,  which  shows  their  supreme 
rank  ;  and  therefore  their  emblem  the  BoKava,  or  one  half  of  it, 

'  Prehist,  Aryan  Aniiq,  (1890)  p.  351.  «  Heimskringla  (1889)  ii,  31. 


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^46  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

accompanied  the  Spartan  kings  to  battle.  The  Semites  took 
their  gods  into  battle  with  them ;  the  ark  was  brought  into  the 
camp  of  IsraEl  (I  Sam.  iv,  7),  and  David  looted  the  Philistine  idols 
at  Baal-Peraztm  (II  Sam.  v,  21).  Lord  Crawford  points  out  in  his 
(posthumous)  Creed  of  Japhet  (p.  132)  that  "the  legend  of  the 
partition  of  the  Bo /cava,  as  reported  by  Herodotus,  passed  into 
the  early  Christian  mythology,  where  we  may  recognise  it  in  the 
partition  of  the  two  arms  of  the  cross  of  our  Lord,  the  capture  of 
one  of  them  in  battle  by  the  Persians,  and  the  successful  crusade 
of  Heraclius  for  its  recovery."^ 

The  Dokana  was  also,  or  became,  the  well-known  sign  of  the 

constellation  Gemini,  iHl  or    |    |    or  ) (  ;*  and  Plutarch  in  the 

first  lines  of  his  writing  on  Fraternal  Friendship  mentions  (in 
accordance  with  what  is  above  shown)  that  at  Sparta  the  Lace- 
daemonians honoured  Castor  and  Pollux,  their  tutelary  gods,  under 
the  form  of  the  wooden  parallels.' 

In  Samoa  the  mythic  female  twins  UIu  and  Na  were  joined  by  the  backs 
when  bom.  When  grown  up,  they  were  startled  out  of  sleep  by  the  throwing  of 
wood  on  the  fire,  and  in  their  fright  ran  with  great  force  at  different  sides  of  a 
housepost,  and  so  were  parted.*  In  Turner's  Samoa  (p.  56)  is  a  variant  which 
says  that  Taema  and  Titi  were  the  names  of  two  household  gods  in  a  Samoan 
family.  They  were,  like  these  girls,  "  Siamese  twins,"  united  back  to  back.  In 
swimming  they  were  struck  by  a  wave  which  separated  them.  Members  of  this 
family  going  on  a  journey  were  supposed  to  have  these  gods  with  them  as  their 
guardian  angels.  Members  of  the  family  could  not  sit  back  to  back,  for  it 
would  be  a  mockery  and  insult  which  would  incur  the  displeasure  of  their  gods. 
Every  thing  double,  such  as  a  double  yam  and  so  on,  was  taboo  to  them,  and 
not  to  be  used  under  penalty  of  death.  Here  is  a  supreme  sanction  of  a  dual 
myth  as  like  that  of  the  DiosKouroi  plus  their  dokana  as  we  are  likely  to  get  it : 
and  it  is  humbly  submitted  to  the  attentive  notice  of  the  migrationists. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  Sanskrit  yamd  twin  can  be  explained  here  from 
yam  to  hold  ;  the  twins  being  considered  as  held-together.  The  great  typical 
Twins  that  belong  to  this  yamd  conception  are  of  course  Yamd  the  first  man 
and  his  twin-sister  Yam!.  The  "  remarkable  hymn  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue, 
in  which  the  female  urges  their  cohabitation  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating 
the  species,"*  is  a  straightest  parallel  to  the  Japanese  legend  of  the  brother 
and  younger  sister  Izana^'  and  Izanam/  (inviting-male  and  inviting-female)  in 
the  4th  chapter  of  the  Kozhiki,^  They  go  round  The  Pillar  too,  the  palace- 
pillar,  like  as  in  the  Samoan  legend.     In  Japanese  and  Sanskrit  we  thus  have 

*  Gibbon,  ch.  xlvi. 

'  Guignaut's   Creuzer,  ii,  311,  321,  1085,  iioi,  iioa     Bailly  Astron,  Anc,  ix,  41 

p.  5M). 

*  Plutarch,  Defrat,  amor,  p.  949  Wyttenberg.      *  Rev.  G.  Pratt,  Folk-Lore,  ii,  457. 

*  Dowson's  Diet,  (2nd  ed.)  373.  •  See  Mr,  Chamberlain's  version,  p.  2a 


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Afytks.']        The  **  Gate  of  Heaven,''  or  Dokana. 


247 


not  only  the  twin  duality  (as  in  Samoa,  and  in  Castor  and  Pollux)  but  the  sexual 
duality  also.  This  typical  myth  thus  seems  to  me  critical,  and  of  the  very  first 
rate.  We  shall  have  to  discuss  the  gyrations  of  Izanagi  and  Izanami  in  the 
Section  on  "  Circular  Worship  "  in  Vol.  II.  It  now  appears  that  such  anomalies 
as  the  Siamese  twins,  the  "two-headed  nightingale  combination,"  Milly- 
Christine,  Rosa-Josepha  (1891)  and  so  on,  are  to  be  explained  in  embryology 
by  the  occasional  penetration  of  two  spermatozolds  into  the  ^%%,  (M.  Henri 
Coupin  in  Rev,  EncycL  1892,  285  ;  1891,  949.) 

But  perhaps  the  oddest  thing  about  this  symbol  as  a  sign  in 
the  celestial  sphere  is  its  presence  in  the  Chinese  charts  (in  our 
Taurus  and  Orion)  where  it  is  named  T'ien-tsieh,  or   Heaven- 
tally  ;  each  portion  of  it  closely  resembling  one 
half  of  the  BoKapa,  and  also  the  Chinese  radical 
P,  tsieh,  a  stamp.*      This  character  and  its 
signification  must  come  from  the  ancient  prac- 
tice of  stamping  a  knot  of  bamboo,  and  then 
splitting  bamboo  and  stamp  down  the  middle, 
in  order  to  give  one  half  to  an    envoy  or 
traveller,  as  a  token,  which  verified  itself  on 
subsequent  comparison  with  the    other   half. 


which  had   been    retained. 
Chinese  frontier-barriers. 


Thus  were   passports  given  at  the 

There  is  yet  another  idea  which 
has  presented  itself  to  me  about 
this  SoKava.  Reference  to  a 
celestial  globe  or  star-map  makes 
it  apparent  that  the  figures  made 
by  the  Seven  Stars 
of  the  Great,  and 
also  of  the  Little, 
Bear  are  almost 
parallel  in  reversed 
directions.  Further, 
if  lines  be  drawn 
from  star  to  star, 
as  shown  in  the 
diagram,  similar 
figures  are  obtained, 
not  so  very  unlike 


^hx^TK^rf^ 


*  Vxot  G.  Schlegel's  Uranog.  Chinoise  p.  374.  -^,  f,^,  ir,  p,  and  Piazzi^s  146,  are  in 
Taurus ;  Piazzi's  214  and  the  other  are  in  Orion. 


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248  The  Night  of  the  Gods  {Axis 


one  half  of  the  Sofcava,  if  we  imagine  it  divided  like  this:  LT. 
It  may  be  said  at  first  blush  that  this  is  merely  ingenious ;  and 
indeed  the  fancy  might  stop  there,  were  it  not  that  the  double 
constellation  of  the  two  Bears  was  also  known  as  Geminae  to 
Ovid  (MeL  iii,  45),  Propertius  (ii,  22,  25),  Hyginus  {Astron,  ii,  i), 
and  Cicero,  who  employs  the  Greek  form.^ 

Virgil  also  has,  twice  over,  "geminosque  TKones,"*  twin 
Tridnes,  a  very  piizzling  word,  which  Varro  (vii,  74)  and  Aulus 
Gellius  said  meant  labour-oxen  ;  but  it  may  very  well  come  from 
rpia  and  fij/,  and  thus  mean  the  Three  Entities,  the  Triad.  It 
occurs  again  in  Sept^mTriorte^  or  SeptenTriones,  which  is  always 
used  for  the  Bears,  and  theiice  for  the  North.  This  may  but 
half  conceal  from  us  the  Seven  plus  thfe  Three  supreme  ci^ntral 
Bfeings.  I  return  to  this  under  "  The  Arcana  "  and  "  The  Number 
Seven." 

(Besides  being  twins,  the  Bears  were  of  course  also  male  and  female, 
Arkas  and  Kallisto,  see  "  The  Number  Seven.") 


A  little  more  must  how  be  said  about  the  toKava  from  another 
slightly  differing  point  of  view.  It  is  singular  that,  accoirdihg  to 
Suidas,  the  tombs  of  the  Tyndarides  (that  is,  of  Kastor  and 
t'olyDeuk^s)  in  the  archaic  Spartan  town  of  Therapn^,  were  also 
called  BoKava,  The  Etytnologicum  Magnum  goes  on  to  explain  that 
the  Bo/cava  presented  the  appearance  of  an  open  tomb.  This  would 
be   comparable    to    the   Egyptian    tomb-door    which    gradually 


developed  into  the  funereal  ste/a.^  J__i  jni-  Thus  wte  should 
have  the  Boxava  as  the  entrance-doorway  from  this  world  to  the 
hext^  the  Restau  ^^y^^I^S^  (see  also  p.  250)  ;  and  in  view  of 
the  high  northern  celestial  position  of  the  twin  Bearis,  we  might 
perhaps  even  view  it  as  The  Gate  of  Heaven^  the  cfelestial  doors 
from  which  in  the  papyrus  of  Amen-em-sdlif  the  defunct  prays 
not  to  be  repulsed.     Mdy  I  not   press  into  the  serVite  here  an 


Egyptian  word  which  has   not  yet  been  phonetically  read 

but  is  explained  by  Brugsch  {Monuments,  70)  as  "  he  who  opens 
the  doors  of  heaven  ; "  presumably  the  same  as  the  heaven's  door 

*  De  not,  Deor,  ii,  41.  '  jEn.  i,  744  ;  iii,  516. 
■  Petrie's  Season  in  Egypt,  pp.  6,  21,  22. 

♦  Th.  Dcv^ria,  Catal,  MSS.  (1881)  p.  9. 


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Myths?^       The  '*  Gate  of  Heaven''  or  Dokana,  249 

porter^  (un)  ^^ o"™"*   ^     .     It  is  remarkable  and  important 

/VVVs/W    BUUUI     uuiuu    V  A 

that  the  I  I  are  so  similar  to  the  Chinese  character  for   mun 

P^  gate,  which  we  shdll  have  directly. 

Now,  Professor  Max  Miiller,  in  the  first  of  the  Sacred  Books  of 
the  East^  for  which  books  we  never  can  be  sufficiently  grateful, 
has  shown  that  in  all  ancient  cosmologies  the  Gate  of  Heaven 
is  at  the  North  Pole.'  The  wide  spread  custom  Of  burial  to  the 
North  lends  this  a  supreme  import  (see  "  The  North  '*  infra). 
Asgard,  the  enclosure  or  garden  of  the  Ases,  is  in  the  Northern 
centre  of  the  world,  at  the  summit  of  YggDrasill.  There  is  the 
hlidskialf,  th6  gate-house,  Odinn's  observatory*,  which  was 
"  perhaps,"  wrote  Bergmann,  "  a  constellation  in  the  zenith  of  the 
boreal  sky."*  The  guess  was  not  a  bad  one.  In  the  Chinese 
sphere  is  found  a  Northern  enclosure  made  by  the  Eastern  and 
Western  hedges  3|[  ^  tungfan  and  "g  }||  sifan,  formed  6f  1 5 
stars  chiefly  in  Draco  and  Ursa-Major,  bearing  the  names  of  the 
ministers  and  officers  who  surround  the  sovereign ;  ahd  an 
opening  in  the  hedges  is  called  Chang-H6  Muh  ffl  21  PI  *^ 
Gate  of  the  heavenly  home*  ;  a  very  close  approach  to  the  Norse 
train  of  ideas.  Heimdall  (Home-stone  ?  hearthstone  ?)  is  stationed 
at  the  entrance  of  heaven  where  Asbrdi,  the  bridge  of  the  Ases, 
abuts  on  Asgard,  and  the  porter's  dwelling,  so  placed,  is  called 
Himinbiorg,  heaven-rocks.  Here  we  have  cropping-up  the  ihaya, 
rock-dwelling  of  the  gods  in  the  Japanese  Anie,  the  heavens  ;  and 
also  the  rock-thirone  which  Nlnigi  left  when  he  descended  through 
the  8-fold  clouds  to  rule  Japan,  see  pp;  37,  169,  supra? 

At  Amoy,  records  De  Grobt  in  his  excellent  Fites  cTEmouiy 
they  have  a  feast  on  the  6th  of  the  6th  month  to  celebrate  the 
"  opening  of  the  gates  of  heaven,  T'ien-bodin  k'al  ^  P^  ^  •"  The 
Chinese  character  f^  mun  or  m^n  a  gateway  or  door  (bodin  at 
Amoy)  has  a  perceptibly  similar  form  to  the  dokana  symbol. 
The  Shin'-gaku  (Heart-study)  sect  of  Japanese  eclectic  Buddhists 
take  also  the  additional  title  of  the  Seki-Mon'  or  Stone-Gate 
^5  P^  which  must  have  a  symbolic  connexion  with  the  celestial 
gateways  or  portals  we  are  considering. 

>  Pierrct,  Vbcab.  753,  ^i.  *  Upaniskads^  p.  36. 

■  Grimm,  Myth.  778 ;  Mallet,  Northern  Antiq.  406.  *  Gylfa  Ginning^  240,  246. 

*  Vranographie  Chinoise,  508,  510,  534.  •  Chamberlain's  Kojiki^  p.  ill. 

'  Shingaku-Muhi  no  Hanashi,  Vedo,  1842. 


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250  The  Night  of  i/ie  Gods.  .  [Axis 

(See,  again,  what  is  cited  (p.  237  supra)  from  Apollonios  of 
Rhodes  as  to  the  "  path  down  from  heaven,  at  the  heavenly  gates 
of  Olympus,  where  are  the  world's  two  poles,  the  highest  points  on 
earth.")  It  is  passing  strange  that  on  Ascension  TAursds.ythe  oaken 
doors  of  Lincoln*s-inn,  by  an  ancient  custom,  are  carefully  kept 
shut  In  the  Temple  the  same  custom  obtains,  and  in  fact  it  may 
be  said  to  be  general.  It  is  not  a  full  explanation  to  state  that 
this  is  done  merely  to  preserve  the  '  right  of  way,'  the  parish 
bounds  being  beaten  on  that  Bounds  Thursday ;  for  why  should 
all  this  be  done  on  the  day  of  a  deity's  ascent  through  the  gates 
of  heaven  ?  The  colossal  Pandarus  (that  is  Pandaros),  the  com- 
panion of  iEneas,  shuts  the  gates  of  the  Trojan  camp  against  the 
Rutuli,^  but  unfortunately  not  before  he  has  allowed  Tumus  their 
rex-god  to  pass  through  ;  and  Tumus  kills  him  (see  also  the  slaying 
in  the  gates  p.  253  infra).  Here  we  have  a  colonial  (?)  continuance 
on  Italian  soil  of  the  original  Dardanian  myth  of  Troia  the 
celestial  Trinidad,  the  heavens-seat  of  the  Triad.  Tumus  is,  as  I 
so  often  point  out,  the  Tumer  of  the  heavens,  here  passing  through 
their  Northpolar  gates.     It  is  also  one  of  the  Samson-myths. 


The  sepulchral. gate  to  the  other  world,  too,  would  on  that 
side  of  the  theory  fumish  us  with  an  apt  and  ample  explanation  of 
our  own  Lych-gates^  which  have  always  been  such  antiquarian's 
puzzles.     I  suppose  we  are  to  see  the  dokana  as  lych-gate  in  the 

Egyptian  "gate  of   the  funeral   passages,"  restau  I^^^ 

(see  also  p.  248  supra)  which  was  a  name  for  the  tomb-entrance,  as 
well  as  the  name  of  a  mysterious  locus  often  mentioned  in  the 
Peremhru.  There  were  priests  devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  gods 
of  Rosta,  who  remind  one  of  the  Roman  gods  of  the  porch  Limen- 

tinus  and  Limentina.     Diana  was  called   Limenatis.      Ro 


and  roi  <::=>  \  m  ^_^  were  names  for  the  vestibule  of  heaven.* 

And  perhaps  this  explains  "  the  great  mystic  pyldns  in  the  Under- 
world, seb^etu  shetet  aa  amu  (uaut* 

As  the  entrance  to  the  next  world  this  would  also  be  the  first 
threshold  or  the  porch,  the  limen  primum  of  the  iEneid  (vi,  427) 

^  ^n,  ix,  652,  etc.  ;  Portam  vi  multa  converso  cardine  torquet 
«  Pierrct,  Diet.  486 ;  Vocab.  297,  312,     *  Dr.  Wallis  Budge's  Papyrus  of  NcH  Amsu^ 
in  Archaologia^  lii,  396,  433,  500. 


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MythsJ]       The  '*  Gate  of  Heaven,''  or  Dokana,  «5> 

where  the  souls  of  infants  wailed :  Infantumque  anims  flentes  in 
limine  prime. 

(Of  course  it  must  be  borne  in  mind — and  if  I  ever  seem  oblivious  of  it, 
the  Reader  is  requested  kindly  to  put  the  most  favourable  construction  upon 
the  passage — that  the  Egyptian  (later  ?)  belief  was  that  as  all  celestial  bodies 
rise,  are  bom,  in  the  East,  and  set,  die  down,  in  the  West,  so  therefore 
the  resurgent  soul  rose  from  the  Southern  Underworld  in  the  E.,  having 
previously  (after  death)  entered  that  underworld  in  the  Western  (mountain  and 
gate).  But  all  this  of  E.  and  W.  must  by  the^necessity  of  the  case  be  cosmically 
viewed  as  secondary  to  the  grander  feet  that  the  underworld  was  S.,  and  to 
the  grandest,  the  primest,  fact  of  all :  that  the  Cosmos  worked  on  the  great  N. 
and  S.  bearings,  of  which  the  N.  was  the  most  sacred.  (We  shall  have  all 
this,  I  much  fear  ad  nauseam,  in  the  Sections  on  "  The  North "  and  "  The 
South.")  This  gate-of-heaven  interpretation  is  that  which  I  also  would  apply 
to  the  explanation  of  the  title  "  pharaoh "  of  the  Egyptian  monarchs  which 
now  " is  but  a  noise,"  and  was  written  per-Ai  ^^  ^^^  lTj  gate  or  house 

of  the  great    The  Pharaoh  was  also  called  Ruti  <:^>  j^  ^  \ \  which  is  also 

a  word  for  pyl6n.^  The  MiKado  of  Japan  is  mi,  divine,  and  kado,  door  or  gate. 
The  Sublime  Porte  follows  easily,  and  so  do  all  the  mythic  janitors  of  heaven, 
down  to  St.  Peter  and  the  pope  who  now  hold  the  keys.    (P-aa  =  mighty  one, 

king,  lord  f  ^^^_^  ^  j  seems  to  be  a  different  title.) 

The  most  splendid  examples  of  this  gate  of  heaven  are  perhaps 

those  of  the  Egyptian  "  pyldns  "  or  Mahet  ^^  '^  S  and  m  ^  t? 


and  'Vs  ^   S.    This  is  both  the  gate  of  the  pyldn  and  of  the 

tomb,  it  would  appear.*     But  we  have  also  hat  ^  S  as  a  gate  or 

pyldn  and  halt  '^'^^  fll)  ^^  which  from  the  determinant  f=^ 

must  it  IS  suggested  be  the  gate  of  heaven.    The  similar  word 

hata  rDQ^Qf==^  has  the  same  meaning.     Hauti  (?)  ITI  J^\\ 

^  ^      ^  seems  to  be  a  plural  of  the  same  word.    This  being  the 

hat,  I  suggest  that  the  Ma-hat  or  Mahet  is  the  True-gate. 

The  Mahat  is  always  crowned  by  the  winged  Sphere,  as  in  the 
fine  example  at  Kamak,  that  is  Thebes  (Apiu  or  Art  or  Apt  ?) 
which  forms  the  frontispiece  of  this  volume.  An  alley  of  seshepu 
(sphinxes)  generally  connected  the  outer  pyldn  with  the  temple. 

The  temple^ate  itself  was  "  a  double  pyldn  "«  ^^ .     Mariette  thus 

writes  of  my  frontispiece :  There  (were  4,  and  still)  are  3  of  these 

>  Pierret,  Votab,  152,  301.       *  Ibid,  183,  320.        '  Du  Barry  de  Merval,  Ettides,  227. 


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^52  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 


portals  at  the  cardinal  points  N.  S.  and  E.  They  were  the 
entrances  to  the  principal  precinct  of  Karnak.  The  total  height 
of  the  S.  gate  is  21  miftres.  The  S.  gate,  says  M.  Mariette,  is 
wholly  of  Ptolemaic  construction,  showing  the  cartouches  of 
Ptolemy  Eiiergetfis  1  and  his  queen  Berenice.* 

The  Pyl6n  at  Edfu  (S.  end  of  the  temple),  which  forms  the 
frontispiece  to  Vol.  II,  is  35  metres  (115  feet)  high,  describes 
Mariette,^  being  10  less  than  the  column  on  the  Place  Venddme  in 
Paris.  The  monument  of  London  Fire  lifts  its  tall  head  202  feet, 
and  I  believe  the  Duke  of  York's  coliinirt  to  measure  124  feet,  just 
9  more  than  this  pyl6ri.  The  temple  was  bounded  by  Ptolemy 
IV,  Philopater,  and  finished  95  years  later  under  Ptolemy 
IX  (Euergfites  II).  The  decoration  is  of  Ptoleniy  XIII,  Dionysos. 
The  8  rectangular  apertures,  and  the  4  long  basal  slots  were  for 
fixing  what  we  call  Venetian  masts  ending  in  banderolles. 
Consider  what  an  immense  length,  or  height,  these  masts  would 
have.  Some  were  as  long  as  45  metres  (147  feet)  says  M.  Pierret* 
Their  name  was  bd  or  bait^  and  ba  meatis  *  tree.* 

Referring  to  what  is  said  above  (p.  147)  as  to  Ahura  Mazda,  Mr.  Herbert 
p.  Darbishire  draws  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  mazdos  is  supposed  to  be  the 
original  form  of  Latin  malus,  mast.'  Prof.  Skeat,  independently  of  this,  alleged 
malus  and  ^axKo^  a  pole,  and  coilcluded  that  the  sense  had  reference  to  the 
might  X^x  strength  of  the  pole  thus  employed  (root  magh  to  have  power,  as 
above  on  p.  147).  This  comes  veiy  near  to  making  Ahura  Mazda  an  axis-gtxl) 
and  I  claim  it  all  as  going  to  prove  that  these  Egyptian  masts  may  well  have 
been  originally  axis-symbols. 

The  puzzling  phrase  **  the  Adityas  "  (thit  is  the  Eight  unbounded 
gods)  "  grew  high  like  akr^h,"  in  RigVeda  x,  TJ^  2,  here  finds  its 
place  and  its  explanation.  Grassm^n  m^kes  akrd:i=  banner; 
Ludwigsays  *  column.'  Prof.  F.  Max  Miiller  says  "  the  meaning  is 
utterly  unknown."*  I  point  to  agra  *  tree-top,"  cucpa  suitimit,  and 
support  both  Grassman  and  Ludwig.  And  t  shall  add  a  reference 
to  the  Japanese  (now  partly  Buddhist)  war-god  Hachiman,  a 
doublet  of  his  other  name  Yahata,  and  both  meaning  8-standards. 
The  Japanese  legend  makes  the  god  Hirohata*yahata--Maro. 

These  words  hiro  and  ya  are  the  same  as  we  had  supra  at  p.  i68>  and  the 
connexion  of  this  god  and  his  8  wide  hata  or  standards  with  the  8  pomts  is 
thus  indubitable  I   think.    As  for  maro  (now  marui)  it  means  spherical  or 

*  Voyage  dans  la  haute  Agypie,  ii,  13,  89,  9a 

*  Diet,  Archaol.  Egypt, 

'  F.  Kluge  in  Kuhn*s  ZeUschHft  fur  vergleichende  Sprackforschung'xxsX^  313. 

*  Vedic  Hymnsy  1891,  p.  414. 


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Myths,']       The  **  Gaie  of  Heaven,''  or  Dokana.  253 

round  SI  or  ]f(i,  which  is  a  further  confirmation  of  the  cosmic  sense.  The 
legend  further  says  that  these  4  white  and  4  red  banners  (hata,  a  word  which 
can  also  mean  *  side  0  fell  from  heaven.  "  No  satisfactory  explanation  seems 
ever  to  have  been  given  of  the  name  Ya-hata,  eight-banners,"*  so  that  my 
explanation  is  novel. 

The  pyl6n  of  the  temple  of  Khonsu,  S.  of  Kamak,  is  105  feet  long,  33 
wide,  and  60  high.  It  has  narrow  stairs  leading  to  the  top  of  t]ie  gate,  and 
thence  to  the  towers.  Four  long  groov.es  in  th^  facade,  reaching  up  to  one- 
third  of  the  height,  correspond  to  four  square  openings  cut  through  masonry. 
Herein  were  fixed  four  great  wooden  masts  from  which  floated  Igng  streamers 
of  various  colours.*  These  flapping  banners  were  hoisted  through  these  small 
square  windows. 


Let  me  now  pick  up  again  what  was  said  on  pp.  179,  ^  80  as  to 
TTi/Xi;,  a  gate,  being  the  same  as  pila  pillar  and  pilum  shaft,  nof 
forgetting  the  word  TheripoPulai  also  there  mentioned.  Of 
course  pulai,  gates,  mountain-passes,  <;trait§ ;  pu)is,  small  door  ; 
pules,  same  as  pul£  ;  and  pul6n,  ha}l,  pofcl),  gate,  door,  are  a)) 
closely-related  words  ;  and  it  may  be  added  that  the  pame  Ilt/Xaca 
for  the  AmphiKtionic  council  of  the  IlvXat  of  ThermoPulai  must 
have  taken  their  name  religiously  from  the  Gate,  just  as  the 
Buddhist  sect  does  on  p.  249  supra.  This  opens  up  a  long  vista  of 
other  gods  of  the  gates,  such  as  Pulad^s  whose  duality  with 
Orestes  makes  the  pair  another  version  of  the  DiosKouroi,  while 
the  nan^  Pulad^s  is  a  connexion  with  the  dokana.  This  is  why 
Ath^p^  wa^  called  7r]uXoTt9  and  Ddm^t^r  j^vXaiq,  apd  irvKayopa  / 
it  explains  IlvXo^  the  son  of  Ar^s,  and  the  Pulos  founded  by 
Ndeus*  and  destroyed  by  ff6raK16s,'  notwitl>stai)ding  the  defencp 
of  the  protean  PeriKlpn^i^nos,  there  killed  with  all  the  other  sons 
of  N61eus  save  r^Testdr,  who  \yas  called  Pulios.  It  mpst  alsp 
expl^n  the  name  Pqladn  or  PulaiMpn^s  of  the  brother  of  Nestdf. 
These  brothers  were  Twelve,  and  therefore  probably  zodiacal ;  and 
looking  to  the  connexion  oi  pulai  with  the  AmphiKtiops,  this 
may  well  be  the  original  dozen  of  that  famous  jury  (see  p.  181, 
supra). 

We  have  another  gate-god  in  Pulas,  whose  daughter  Pulia  PanDi6n 
espoused,  and  who,  by  another  account^*  was  the  founder  of  the  town,  polis,  of 
Pulos.  Note  that  Pal  Las,  by  one  genealogy,  was  son  of  PanDi6n  and  Pulia. 
Quite  a  little  list  of  other  names  invite  us  :   the  Trojans  Pulachantos  and 

'  Sato;[7  aod  Hawes,  Handbook  of  fapan,  2nd  ed.  379. 

'  M^spe^o^f  Egypt  Arch,  (Edwards)  69.      '  Apoll.  Bibi,  i,  9,  9.       *  Ibid,  iii,  is,  S? 


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Pul^os  killed  by  Achillas,  Pular^s  killed  by  Aias  (Ajax),  and  Pulon  killed  by 
PoluPoit^s  ;  PulaiMen^s  the  Paphlagonian  killed  by  MeneLaos  at  Troy  (see 
also  Tumus  and  Pandaros,  p.  2^0  supra) ;  the  town  Pul^nfi  of  which  the  citizens 
went  to  the  siege  of  Troy  ;  Pularg^  (arg^  =  white)  the  spouse  of  Idm6n  and 
daughter  of  Danaos  and  Pieria  (see  p.  142) ;  and  Pul6  daughter  of  ThesPios 
and  mother  by  H^raKl^s  of  HippoTas. 

The    pyl6n    or    gateway    was    evidently    prominent    at    the 
Phoenician  temple  of  Ashtoreth  at  Paphos,  as  may  be  seen  from 

the  local  coins  belonging  even  to 

the  Roman  period.     It  was  most 

archaic  in    its  clumsy   rudeness. 

A  coin  of  Julia  Domna,  mother 

j^^^       of  Caracalla,  gives  thiis  Paphian 

^^J  _  tcm  pie-gate  (with  the  birds  of  the 

Jl/*  /Tl  J  a  panesetori-i /«/>»?).    Another 

Cypriot  coin  of  Vespasian  also 

gives  the  gate  without  the  birds.* 

(Compare    the   holy  monument 

Junder    the     gateway 

mas^^bh^h  at  p.  195,) 


with    the 


Ka-Dingirra-ki,  one  of  the  native  names  of  Babylon,  is  Gate- 
of-God-place.*  The  "  god  "  here  is  Dingiri  or  Nana  or  Anatu, 
the  consort  of  Anu,  who  was  bom  of  Tiamat 


This  gate-of-heaven  theory  explains  the  strange  custom  which 
still  survives  of  crawling  through  dolmens,  which  might  be  called 
the  rudest  of  torans  (see  p.  255),  consisting  of  two  great  upright 
flattish  stones  and  a  cross-piece,  thus  TY*  Dolmens  are  crept 
through  at  Kerlescant  in  Bretagne,  at  Rollrich  in  Oxfordshire,  at 
Ardmore  in  Waterford  and,  by  newly-wedded  couples  at  Craig 
Mady  in  Stirlingshire.  The  dolmen  in  most  of  these  cases  is  the 
holy  gate  leading  to  paradise,  and  to  pass  through  it  is  to  attain 
new  life  or  immortality.  At  Michaelmas  the  Irish  pilgrims  still  go 
to  SkelHg-Michael,  where,  said  Keating,  the  druidic  pilgrim 
ascended  to  a  stone  called  leac  an  docra,  stone  of  grief,  at  the 
summit  of  the  rocky  mountain-island,  and  at  the  height  of  about 
150  feet  crept  through  a  narrow  opening  like  a  chimney  which  was 

'  Given  from  the  Cabinet  du  roi  in  Munter*s  Die  htmmlische  Gottin  zu  Paphos ^  tab. 
iv,  I.  See  La  Chau,  Dissert,  sur  VSnus^  25.  Donaldson's  Archiiectura  NumismoHca^ 
and  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  VArt^  iii,  1 20,  266,  27a 

«  Dr.  Wallb  Budge  :  Bahyl  /Jfe  and  HisL  14. 


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Afyi/is.']       The  *'  Gate  of  Heaven''  or  Dokana.  25s 

called  "  the  eye  of  the  needle. '  The  stone  was  long  ago  replaced 
by  a  stone  cross.^ 

In  Syrian  Moab  one  ancient  and  many  more  modem  examples 
of  this  gate  are  to  be  found.*  In  the  Aksa  Mosque  at  Jerusalem 
too,  pilgrims  have  squeezed  through  two  pairs  of  pillars  until  they 
have  been  worn  away  by  the  practice,  in  order  to  secure  an  entry 
into  paradise,  which  reminded  Capt.  Conder*  of  "  threading  the 
needle  "  in  Ripon  Cathedral.  I  think  that  Baal  Peor  (see  p.  196) 
the  Lord  of  the  mountain-pass,  slit,  or  opening,  falls  into  my 
present  category,  as  a  heavens-mountain-gate  god. 

A  jaunty  friend  who  takes  an  intermittent  interest  in  these  speculations 
writes  me :  "  As  to  your  dual-pillar  arguments,  have  you  considered  and 
accounted  for  the  famous  old  sign  of  The  Blue  Posts  V^  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, by  the  way,  that  this  is  not  an  inn  Sign  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that 
term,  but  a  pair  of  actual  Posts,  between  which  posts  entrance  is  effected. 


The  connexion  of  the  Soxava  with  the  Hindil  toran  or  gateway 
to  a  tope  seems  inevitable.  Although  of  stone,  the  toran  is 
obviously  an  intentional  and  slavish  copy  of  a  wooden  forerunner, 
as  Fergusson  pointed  out  in  his  Tree  and  Serpent  Worship  and  his 
Indian  Architecture  (p.  87).  These  original  wooden  constructions 
must  have  been  of  simple  upright  beams  and  crossbeams,  much 
resembling  th^paild  (honour-arch)  of  China  and  the  tori-i  of  Japan. 
Indeed  toran,  if  viewed  as  a  Buddhist  importation,  may  give  us 
the  origin  of  the  puzzling  word  tori-i,  which  in  Japanese  means 
literally  and  merely  bird-perch.  The  tablet  upon  the  tori-i  is 
called  in  Japan  a  sotoba,  which  is  derived  by  the  Buddhists  from 
the  Sanskrit  stftpa,*  A  stftpa  however  is  a  tope,  and  the  source 
of  sotoba  may  be  rather  the  word  stambha,  as  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  see  a  little  farther  on. 

The  toran  or  gateway  of  the  Indian  tope  is,  says  Fergusson  again,*  "  as 
the  Chinese  would  call  it,  a  pailoo."  "In  China  and  Japan  their  descen- 
dants are  counted  by  thousands.  The  pailoos  in  the  former  country 
and  the  tons  [tori-i  I.  O'N.]  in  the  latter  are  copies  more  or  less  correct 
of  these  Sanchi  gateways,  and  like  their  Indian  prototypes"  [the  terms 
"descendants,"  "copies,"  and  "prototypes"  remain  unproved.  I.  O'N.]  "are 
sometimes  in  stone,  sometimes  in  wood,  and  frequently  compounded  of  both 
materials.  What  is  still  more  curious,  a  toran  with  five  bars  was  erected  in 
front  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  to  bear  the  sacred  golden  vine,  some  forty 

'  Po^sus  des  Bardes  by  D.  O'Sullivan,  Paris,  1853,  p.  95* 

'  Condcr's  Beth  and  Moab^  p.  233,  293.  »  Murray's  Handbook  ofjapan^  p.  [78]. 

*  Jnd,  Arch,  p.  87. 


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years  before  these  Sanchi  examples.  It  was  partly  in  wood,  partly  in  stone, 
and  was  erected  to  replace  one  that  adorned  Solomon's  Temple,  which  was 
wholly  in  bronze,  and  supported  by  the  celebrated  pillars  Jachin  and  Boaz  " 
(p.  99).  See  p.  237  supra^  as  to  these  two  pillars.  Solomon's  temple,  as  we 
now  know,*  was  probably  built  by  the  Tyrian  artizans  as  a  purely  Phoenician 
temple  ;  and  the  gate  thus  connects  itself  at  once  with  the  just  mentioned 
Paphos  gate. 

Here  is  a  rude  and  little  sketch  of  a  tpran  leading  to  the 
great  tope  at  Sanchi.  The  pail6  in  China  is 
generally  a  monument  to  the  specially-honoured 
dead.  It  is  frequently  of  wood,  and  when  in 
stone  retains  closely,  as  the  toran  does  in 
India,  all  the  details  of  a  wooden  construction. 
^^^It  consists  of  two  posts  and  a  rail  making 
one  gateway,  or  more  elabo- 
rately of  four  posts  and  a  greater 
number  of  crossbeams.  Of  the 
latter  kind  I  give  a  roujgh  out- 
line." 

Farther  on  (p.  45 1 )  Fergusson 
mentions  ^*  those  torans  or  trium- 
phal archways,  which  succeeded 
the  gateways  of  the  Buddhist 
topes."  Again  (p.  700)  he  des- 
cribes the  Chinese  "pailoos  or 
triumphal  gateways,  as  they  are 
most  improperly  called."  One^ 
knows  not  why  Fergusson  (except  that  they  are  also  ancestral  in 
China)  made  this  last  denial,  tte  calls  them  triumphal  himself 
elsewhere,  and  they  seem  to  have  an  identical  origin  with  what  we 
have  been  accustomed  always  to  call  triumphal  arches  from  at 
least  Roman  times.  Triumph  itself  is  one  of  those  proyoking 
words  which  are  labelled  "  root  unknown  ;"  but  it  is  very  possible 
that,  like  almost  all  the  other  words  in  trir,  it  has  its  origin  in  a 
triad,  and  that  in  the  case  of  triumph  that  triad  is  the  supreme 
one  of  the  three  central  great  gods,  and  that  it  was  originally,  as  in 
the  Arvalian  hymn  (see  " The  Arvalian  Brothers"  in  Vol.  11)^  a 
shout  of  praise  in  worship,  like  hallelurjah.  I  see  that  General 
Cheng-ki-Tong  in  his  French  novel  L Homme  Jaune^  renders  paild 
by  arc  de  triomphe.     But  he  had  a  French  collaborateur. 

*  Rawlinson's  Hist,  of  Phanicia.  *  Eastern  4rch,  pp.  7DI,  63. 

'  Le  Temps,  30  July  1890. 


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MythsJ]       The  '^Gate  of  Heaven,''  of  Dokana. 


^S1 


hiMpofi^i  hynin  to  Dionusos,  and  3piafifios  hymn,  are  now  considered 
both  to  be  foreign  words.  From  the  first,  we  conclude  a  form  Bvpay^os  for  the 
second  ;  and  this  is  borne  out  by  dpidCa  I  rage  (like  a  prophet)  when  compared 
with  Bvpaofiayris  the  Bacchanalian  frenzy  ;  and  this  again  must  be  linked  on  to 
Bva<r»  I  shake,  and  6v<a  I  rush  rave  rage.  Hence,  as  Willamowitz-Moellendorf 
has  suggested,  Bplofipos  contains  the  meaning  divine,  and  also  indicates  a 
combined  hymn  and  dance  of  praise  and  worship.  Although  the  dt-  might 
seem  to  indicate  a  "  one-two  "  measure,  this  line  of  argument  seems  to  exclude 
the  idea  of  /Aree  (rptis)  steps  or  times  in  the  dance  and  music  of  the  Mnambos, 
which  word  may  then  further  be  pursued  into  the  Latin  triumphus  and 
triumpus  through  hypothetical  forms  such  as  3piofifios,  rpioptf>os,'^ 

The  paild  becomes  a  paifang  in  Western  Yunnan.  (See  what 
is  stated  as  to  the  weikan  of  this  country  at  p.  193  supra,)  Pai- 
fang^ are  there  common  near  almost  every  hamlet,  and  are  built 
with  wooden  posts  and  beams,  and  a  tiled  roof,'  the  sides  being 
partly  filled  in  with  brickwork.  Sometimes 
the  roofs  are  of  thatch  (which  may  have  been 
the  most  archaic  roofing  of  these  gates). 
The  likeness  here  to  our  lychgates  (see 
p.  250  supra)  is  very  striking. 


Mr.  Colquhoun  gives  (i,  348)  an 
excellent  large  engraving  of  a 
paifang  at  Kwangnan  in  E.  Yun- 
nan, and  I  venture  to  outline  the 
smaller  sketch  of  another  also 
there  given.  It  had  been  put  up 
as  a  memorial  of  a  widow  who 
died  at  the  age  of  80.  A  sketch 
of  the  simplest  form  of  paifang  is 
added  (from  ii, 
30).  Mr.  Col- 
quhoun says 
"  the  paifang 
(or  toran  of 
in    honour    of^ 


gji^^^ 


India)   is  erected 
widowhood,     office-  holding. 


and 


longevity  "  ;  but  I  must  not  stop  now  to  argue  these  points.  "  A 
widow  who  will  kill  herself  for  grief  at  the  loss  of  her  husband  is 
sure  of  an  obituary  notice  in  the  Peking  Gazette,  and  a  commemo- 
rative arch  or  pailou  will  be  erected  to  her."* 

>  E.  R.  Wharton's  Eiyma  Latina, 

»  Colquhoun's  Across  Chrysi,  ii,  156,  162.     »  Allen's  Book  of  Chi,  Poetry,  1891,  p.  165. 

U 


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258 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


{Axis 


The  Japanese  %  jg  tori-i  or  "  bird-perch,"  as  it  superficially 
can  mean,  is  said  to  have  been  for  sacred  birds  (in  which  there  is 
nothing  celestially  inconsistent,  as  readers  who  persevere  with  this 
Inquiry  will  see  in  Vol.  II).  It  consists,  like  the  dokana,  of  two 
great  posts  and  cross-beams.     Here  is  one  from  a  working  drawing 

in   the  little    Shoshoku   gwakutsura,^ 

'  which  also  exhibits  the  central  tablet 

or  sotoba.     Many  others  had   arrived 

at  Fergusson's  theory,  independently 

of  Fergusson,  in  so  far  as  the  pail6 

j^       f  I  M         and  tori-i  are  concerned ;  and  I,   for 

v2L  I J         one,  would  fully  agree  with  him  as  to 

jS       il  iJL        ^«  identical  origin  for  all  threfi — toran 

"5V     /7J  i__L      pail6  and  tori-i — ^were  it  not  that  so 

leading  an  authority  upon  Japanese 
subjects  as  Mr.  E.  M.  Satow*  throws 
doubt  upon  it,  admitting  at  the  same  time  that  the  explanation 
bird-perch  unfortunately  throws  no  light  upon  the  question  of 
the  origin  or  use  of  the  tori-i.  There  are  endless  numbers  of 
these  tori-i ;  some  of  stone  and  some  of  bronze,  but  generally 
of  wood.  The  **  birds "  may  be  intended  for  the  souls  of  men 
passing  through  and  perching  in  their  way  on  the  gate  to 
the  next  world.  We  may  see  perching  birds  sculptured  on  the 
torans  which  are  called  kirti  stambhas  at  Worangul  in  Fergus.son.* 
These  kirti  stambhas  are  as  like  tori-i  as  they  well  can  be.  The 
birds  are  also  found  on  the  Paphos  gate  (see  p.  254  supra)  which 
must  seem  to  anyone  to  be  a  very  strange  coincidence. 

As  the  forms  of  the  wooden  tori-i  are  of  importance  for  my 
suggestions  as  to  the  wooden  hoKava^  another  example  from  a 
Japanese  (Buddhist })  picture  is  added.  The  legend  on  the  little 
pillar  is  Hiyakudo  ishi,  the  loo-times  stone,  between  which  and  a 
small  adjacent  altar,  pilgrims  walk  to  and  fro  as  a  devout  exercise. 
Here  we  get  the  gate,  the  pillar,  and  the  pilgrimage  together. 
Some  other  good  specimens  of  tori-i  will  be  found  in  Humbert's 
Le  Japon  Illustri. 


'  A  series  of  sketches  for  all  trades,  p.  15.  An  example  very  like  this  may  be  seen 
in  Miss  Bird's  interesting  and  valuable  Unbeaim  Tracks  in  Japan^  i,  289.  Note  the 
wedges  or  tenons  fixing  the  lower  beam  in  the  sketch  above. 

«  Murray's  Handbook  ofjapan^  p.  [65]  2nd  ed.  '  ImL  Arth,  p.  392. 


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Myths."]       The  ''Gate  of  Heaven,^  or  Dokana, 


259 


I  thus  seek  to  connect  the  Dokana  symbol  with  the  Northern 
celestial  gate,  of  which  I  also  theorise  that  the  Japanese  tori-i,  the 
Chinese  pail6  and  paifang,  the  Indian  toran,  the  Egyptian  mahat 
or  pyl6n,  the  Phoenician  Paphos  gate,  the  Roman  triumphal  arch, 
the  Celtic  dolmen,  and  the  English  lychgate,  were  each  and  all 
symbolic. 


It 


*^L>4;t:% 


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26o 


The  Pillar-Axis  as  Tower. 


22.  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland. 

23.  Some  other  Towers. 


22. — ^The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland. 

THE  considerations  urged  in  the  foregoing  pages  in  regard  to 
the  ubiquitous  Pillar  as  an  outcome  of  the  Universe-Axis 
myths  will  probably  have  struck  the  reader  as  admitting  of  wider 
application.  Let  us  consider  from  this  point  of  view  the  Irish 
Round  Towers,  which  have  already  furnished  matter  for  intermin- 
able discussions  without  leading  to  any  sufficing  conclusion. 

In  his  memorable  Essay  on  the  "  Origin  and  Uses  of  the  Round 
Towers  of  Ireland,"  Petrie  adduced  proofs  of  the  building  of  such 
towers  as  bell-houses,  cloictheach^  by  early  Irish  Christian  kings 
and  saints.  The  peasantry  still  call  such  a  tower  a  cloictheach  or 
a  clogas  (belfry),  or  use  some  cognate  term.  Therefore — ^so  one  of 
Petrie's  arguments  ran — the  towers  are  Christian  belfries  ;  con- 
structed nevertheless  so  as  to  serve  at  the  same  time  as  keeps  or 
places  of  refuge,  and  as  church-treasuries,  and  also  as  beacons  and 
watch-towers.*  This  is  what  is  called,  by  a  commercial  metaphor, 
in  the  easy  language  of  to-day,  **  a  large  order ; "  but  even  if  all 
this  were  admitted,  it  would  not  account  for  the  "  origin  "  or  source 
of  the  pillar-like  form  of  the  towers  themselves,  nor  for  others  of 
their  singularities. 

Another  leading  argument  of  Petrie's  was  that  these  towers  are 
found  only  near  old  churches  or  their  sites.  If  reversed  and  put 
this  way :  old  churches  are  found  near  round  towers,  the  true 
weight  of  the  statement  is  felt 

There  is  no  church  near  the  round  tower  of  Antrim  ;  and  the  uncorrupted 
name  of  the  place,  Aentreibh  or  Oentreb  =  One-house,  may  carry  some  signifi- 
cance in  this  matter.* 

'  Eccies,  Archit,  of  Ireland  {D^hMu^  1845).  *  Ijox^  Dunraven's  Notes,  ii,  2^ 


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The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  261 

And  it  would  really  be  a  firmer  argument — though  not  one 
leading  to  the  same  conclusion — to  say  that  the  round  towers  are 
only  found  near  ancient  burying-places. 

For  there  is  no  a  priori  reason  why  a  church  should  have  a  burial-ground 
attached  to  it ;  while  it  is,  on  the  other  hand,  almost  natural  that  a  burial-ground 
should  come  to  have  a  sacred  place  for  the  performance  of  the  rites  of  ancestor- 
worship. 

Petrie  too  stated  this  particular  conclusion  of  his  much  more 
dogmatically  when  he  made  the  bigger  assertion*  that  the  towers 
•*  only  held  the  places  of  accessories  to  the  principal  churches  in 
Ireland."  I,  on  the  contrary,  suggest  that  it  was  all  "  the  other 
way  up."  Christians  may  have  built,  did  build,  such  towers  ;  but 
who  began  building  them?  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  early  "  con- 
verted" Christian -pagan  Irish  may — nay  by  all  analogy  must — 
have  continued  prior  pagan  forms  in  their  religious  edifices  ;  and 
not  alone  so,  but  the  early  Christian  Irish  must  have  appropriated 
the  buildings  of  previous  cults.  When  one  faith  is  succeeding  and 
supplanting  another,  the  change  is  not  made  by  an  instantaneous 
right-about-face ;  the  alteration  must  be  gradual  to  be  successful ; 
the  evolution  proceeds  slowly  ;  there  remains  a  great  deal  of  super- 
stitio,  much  is  left  standing.  The  mantle  of  Elias  always  descends 
to  some  Eliseus,  the  new  gods  take  up  the  myths  and  trappings  of 
the  old.  The  later  creed  impropriates  the  rites  sites  and  sacred 
buildings  of  the  older  one  ;  but  at  the  same  time  proceeds  to  dish 
up  everything  anew,  in  its  own  way.  The  practical  change  is, 
taking  a  broad  view,  in  great  part  rifacimento  and  development.  It 
is  humanly  impossible  to  be  off  with  the  old  god  before  you're  on 
with  the  new. 

I  shall  here  quote  a  weighty  remark  of  Prof  Rh^s's,  cognate  to 
this  subject* 

The  GoidePs  feith  in  Druidism  was  never  suddenly  undermined  ;  for  in  the 
saints  he  only  saw  more  powerful  Druids  than  those  he  had  previously  known, 
and  Christ  took  the  position  in  his  eyes  of  the  Druid  Kar^e^oxrjv,  Irish  Druidism 
absorbed  a  certain  amount  of  Christianity ;  and  it  would  be  a  problem  of 
considerable  difficulty  to  fix  on  the  point  where  it  ceased  to  be  Druidism,  and 
from  which  onwards  it  could  be  said  to  be  Christianity  in  any  restricted  sense 
of  that  term.  "  The  gods  or  heroes,"  writes  M.  J.  Loth,  "  who  were  not  too  much 
compromised  in  the  pagan  Olympus,  or  whom  it  would  have  been  hopeless  or 
dangerous  to  blacken  in  the  minds  of  the  Christianized  Breton  populations, 
were  generally  converted  ;  and  in  Wales  passed  over  to  the  ranks  of  the  Saints. 

*  C/t  supra,  p.  353.  '  Hibbert  Lectures,  1 886,  p.  224. 


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262  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

The  list  of  them  is  thus,  too,  interminable."*  "  The  legend  of  St  Collen,  who 
gave  his  name  to  Llan-gollen  in  Denbighshire,  and  to  Lan-golen  near  Qoimper 
in  Brittany  shows  that  it  was  not  without  labour  that  the  ChriBtian  priests 
succeeded  in  blackening  the  ancient  god  Gwynn  son  of  Nudd  in  the  minds  of 
the  Welsh."    But  his  name  became  at  length  equivalent  to  "  the  devil"* 

St  Patrick  "  raised  the  Christian  Altar  by  the  side  of  the  Pillar,"  writes 
Lady  Wilde  ;•  "  his  mode  of  action  was  full  of  tact.  He  did  not  overthrow  the 
pagan  rites,  but  converted  them  to  Christian  usages." 

Sven  Nilsson's  view  is  also  straightly  to  the  point : 

"Every  religious  change  amongst  a  people  is  properly  speaking  only  an 
amalgam  of  diverse  religions.  The  new  one,  whether  introduced  by  force  of 
persuasion  or  by  fire  and  sword,  cannot  at  one  go  tear-up  out  of  the  mind 
of  the  people  all  the  tenuous  and  multiple  rootlets  that  the  preceding  religion 
had  sent  forth.  It  requires  generations  without  number,  perchance  thousands  of 
years,  before  that  can  be  completely  effected.  And  that  is  why  the  study 
of  popular  legends  and  superstitions  is  of  such  importance,"* 

Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  writing  to  the  Abbot  Mellitus,  approved 
of  St  Augustine's  (circa  600  A.D.)  not  interfering  needlessly  with 
the  leanings  of  his  English  pagan  converts.  He  was  to  destroy 
no  old  temples,  but,  if  solidly  constructed — ^that  is,  if  they  were 
worth  the  trouble — to  consecrate  them  as  Christian  churches ;  to 
permit  worship  on  the  old  lines,  but  under  new  names ;  or,  if  he 
removed  the  idols  from  the  heathen  altars,  he  was  not  to  destroy 
the  altars  themselves,  because  the  people  would  be  allured  to 
frequent  the  Christian  ceremonies  when  they  found  them  celebrated 
in  places  they  had  been  accustomed  to  revere.  As  the  pagans 
practised  sacrifices,  and  afterwards  partook,  with  their  priests,  of 
the  sacrificial  flesh  and  offerings,  Augustine  was  merely  to  prevail 
on  them  to  immolate  their  victims  near  the  churches,  and  was  there 
to  allow  them  to  hold  their  festive  meals  for  the  love  of  the  good 
God,  and  to  drink  in  honour  of  him  who  creates  and  gives  all 
things,  in  the  huts  they  were  accustomed  to  make  round  the 
temple  with  tree-branches.* 

The  other  St.  Augustine  (the  Father)  had  also  written  earlier 
that  temples  are  not  to  be  destroyed,  nor  idols  smashed,  nor  sacred 
groves  cut  down,  but  better  was  to  be  done  by  converting  them, 
like  their  worshippers,  from  sacrilege  and  impiety  to  the  uses  of 
the  true  faith.* 

In  A.D.  529  the  last  temple  of  Apollo  remaining  in  Rome  was 

*  Lis  Jidabinog,  1889,  i,  12.  '  Ibid,  253. 

'  Ancient  Cures,  Charms^  and  Usages  of  Ireland,  1890,  pp.  86,  88. 

*  Age  de  la  Pierre,  3rd  ed.  Paris,  1868,  p.  249.      '  Bede,  i,  30 ;  Gr^.  Episi.  ix,  71. 

*  Cum  templa,  idola,  lud    ...     in  honorem  Dei  convertuntur ;  hoc  dc  illis  sic 


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Myths ^  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  263 

turned  into  a  cloister.^  In  389  the  Serapeum  of  Alexandria  had 
been  razed,  and  all  the  metal  statues  melted  in  Egypt  for  the  uses 
of  Christian  worship.  A  portion  of  the  buildings  of  the  East  were 
converted  into  churches.  This  policy  did  not  prevent  the  ancient 
recourse  to  augury  by  Christian  Consuls  in  the  5th  century.* 

Witness  too  the  conversion  of  Christian  churches  and  cathedrals 
into  mosques  by  the  Moslem,  almost  solely  by  the  mere  addition 
of  a  minaret  (see  p.  276  infrd) — ^the  chief  quarrel  thus  being  merely 
as  to  Xheform  of  the  tower,  and  both  faiths  considering  a  tower 
indispensable ;  which  is  an  important  consideration  in  favour  of 
my  cosmic  theory. 

To  claim  all  the  strange  and  almost  unique  ancient  Irish  church 
ornamentation  as  a  pure  and  sudden  early  Irish  Christian  eclosion 
would  be  counter  to  all  other  religious  or  architectural  evolutions. 
And  besides,  all  the  elaborate  and  sometimes  marvellous  decorative 
stone-carving  of  the  Towers  and  the  churches,  when  peculiar,  has 
no  Christianity  in  it,  as  an  examination  of  Petrie's  own  fine 
drawings  makes  obvious.  His  theory  left  no  room  in  time  for  the 
growth  of  a  so  advanced  and  remarkable  type  and  style  ;  according 
to  his  conclusions,  the  Round  Tower  must  have  issued  totus  teres 
atque  rotundus*  from  the  brain  of  some  early  Christian  builder. 

Isidore,  writing  io  the  early  7th  century,  said  Turres  vocatac  quod  teretes 
sint  et  longae ;  teres  enim  est  aliquid  rotundum  cum  proceritate,  ut  columnae  ;* 
and,  one  might  add,  the  limbs  of  Phyllis.*  And  Festus,  some  500  years  before, 
said  teres  meant  that  which  is  in  longitudine  rotundatum,  as  Nature  furnishes 
us  asseres,  which  must  here  be  understood  as  timber,  straight  tree-trunks,  fir- 
poles.  The  meaning  given  by  Festus  is  most  classic ;  and  the  connexion  of 
the  tower,  the  pillar,  and  the  tree  is  not  to  be  missed  here.  But  teres  is  always 
referred  to  tero  (rub,  here  plane  ?),  and  turris  {rvpcris)  is  put  with  AngloSaxon 
torr  =  rock.  Tor^  says  Skeat,  is  in  Devonshire  a  Celtic  word  for  a  conical  hill, 
and  it  is  so  used  in  Limerick  for  Tory-Hill  (see  Tory- Island  p.  267).  This  seems 
to  supply  a  name^connexion  between  the  axis-tower  and  the  heavens-mountain. 

See  too  the  very  curious  &ct  about  the  earlier  pagan  and  the  later 

quod  de  bomitiibus,  cum  ex  sacrilegio  et  impiis  in  veram  religionem  convertuntur  etc. 
Ep.  €ui  Pmblic^  ^y, 

'  lassanlx,  Untergangdes  HelUnismus^  144,  148. 
*  Salvian,  De  Gubem,  Dei^  vi,  2. 

'  Horatius  :  Quisnam  igitur  liber  ?     Davus :  Sapiens,  sibique  imperioeus ; 
qaem  neque  panperies  neque  mors  neque  vincula  terrent ; 
responsare  cupidinibus  contemnere  honores 
fortis ;  et  in  seipso  totus  teres  atque  rotundus ; 
extemi  ne  quid  valeat  per  leve  morari, 

in  quern  manca  mit  semper  Fortuna.     (Hor.  Sat.  vii,  2.     The  imagery  is  cosmic.) 
*   Origines  xv,  2.  »  Hor.  Odes,  ii,  4. 


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264  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

Christian  sacred  vessel,  the  capsa,  cista  or  turris,  being  in  the  form  of  a  tower 
("The  Arcana"). 


Petrie  admittedly^  chose  his  conclusions  from  among  those 
which  had  already  been  separately  advanced  by  Molyneux, 
Ledwich,  Pinkerton,  Sir  W.  Scott,  Montmorenci,  Brewer,  and 
Otway.  Among  the  theories  rejected  by  Petrie  are  the  following  : 
that  the  Irish  round  towers  were  astronomical  observatories,  that 
they  were  of  Phoenician  origin,  and  that  they  were  used  by  the 
Druids  to  proclaim  festivals.  If  a  pre-Druidical  origin  be  sup- 
posed for  the  form  of  these  towers,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  sun- 
and  tree-worshipping  Druids  may  have  annexed  them  ;  or  that 
the  towers  may  have  descended  to  the  Druids  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  that  evolution  in  which  sun-worship  at  length  outshone 
and  extinguished  heavens-  and  Polestar-worship.  The  stone- 
worshipping  Phoenicians  may  or  may  not  have  been  connected 
with  the  pillar-towers — see  for  in.stance  what  is  said  about  their 
temple-columns,  pp.  237, 244  supra — and  it  would  not  be  far  wrong 
perhaps  to  call  the  towers  star-worshippers'  "  observatories,"  in  a 
religio-astrological  rather  than  in  the  scientific-astronomical  accepta- 
tion. But  these  points  are  of  course  of  the  very  most  speculative 
character,  although  they  fit  themselves  easily  into  the  argument. 
Then  again,  as  to  the  **  beacon  "  and  **  observatory  "  uses,  it  seems 
conceded  that  the  four  top  windows  just  under  the  conical  roof  of  the 
Round  Tower  look  N.  S.  E.  and  W.  "  There  are  almost  always 
four  placed  at  opposite  sides  in  the  top  story,"  stated  Lord 
Dunraven,*  "  and  generally  so  as  to  face  the  four  cardinal  points  of 
the  compass.  There  are  only  two  in  the  top  of  Temple  Finghin, 
and  there  are  five  in  the  upper  story  of  Kells  [four,  p.  20],  and  six 
in  that  of  Kilkenny."  [There  are  six  also  at  Kilmacduagh,  p.  17.] 
Lingard*  said  lights  were  kept  burning  during  the  night  in  the 
New  Tower  at  Winchester,  which,  as  we  learn  from  Wolstan, 
consisted  of  five  stories,  in  each  of  which  were  four  windows 
illuminated  every  night,  looking  towards  the  four  cardinal  points. 
I  fail  however  to  see  the  connexion  between  the  illumination  of 
the  windows  and  their  cardinal  pointing ;  the  two  facts  seem  to  be 
perfectly  independent  in  effect  and  in  intention. 

As  to  Petrie's  watch-tower  hypothesis,  it  may  be  noted  that  Zephath,  the 

*  Ut  supra,  pp.  3,  118.  *  Notes  on  Irish  Arch,  ii,  151,  2,  17. 

'  Anglo-Saxon  Churches^  ii,  379,  and  see  Petrie  ut  supray  374. 


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AfyiAs.']  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  265 

name  of  the  Canaanite  city  in  Judges^  means  a  watch-tower ;  so  does  Zepho 
the  son  of  Eliphaz  (strong  fel)  in  Genesis  xxxvi ;  and  the  god  Baal-Zephon  or 
Tsephon  is  simply  Lord  of  the  North ;  just  as  Baal-Shemain  is  Lord  of 
Heavens,  Baal-Hamon  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  Baal-Tamar  Lord  of  the  (date- 
pahn  ?)  Tree.'  We  must  clear  our  minds  o  the  degraded  vulgar  idea  that 
Baal  is  the  Sun.     Baal-Risheph  was  the  Sun-god. 


There  is  another  well-known  occult  theory  of  the  round-towers— the  phallic 
(Petrie,  p.  4)  which  could  be  shown  to  be  compatible  with  the  main  theory 
which  is  now  here  diffidently  but  advisedly  advanced.  The  accessory  signi- 
ficance of  the  ever  active  fashioning  generative  energy  was  anciently  attendant 
upon  and  concordant  with  the  world-axis  conception  ;  at  times  the  two  run 
parallel,  and  again  and  again  they  converge  and  coalesce.  And  both  are 
embodied  in  the  rank,  attributes,  and  symbols  of  the  supreme  Egyptian  Ptah 
(see  p.  66  sufira\  to  whom  I  lay  claim  as  a  Polar  deity.  Petrie  (p.  106)  said 
that  this  phallic  theory  **  is  happily  so  absurd  and  so  utterly  unsupported  .  .  . 
that  I  gladly  pass  it  by  M-ithout  further  notice."  But  this  obiter  dictum  did  not 
dispose  of  the  question.    (See  also  pp.  199  and  240  supra,) 


Since  Petrie's  time,  the  third  Lord  Dunraven  has,  following  up  a  sort  of 
theory  of  Viollet-le- Due's  about  the  Northmen  in  France,  posited  that  as  the 
Round  Towers  "are  first  mentioned  in  the  annals  of  Ireland  in  the  loth 
centyry,  it  would  seem  that  they  were  erected  for  protection  of  the  churches  in 
consequence  of  the  first  attacks  made  upon  the  churches  in  the  9th  century." 
The  consideration  of  this  subject  is  pursued  in  the  "Concluding  Essay"*  of 
Lord  Dunraven's  superb  Notes  on  Irish  Architecture^  for  which  every  Irishman, 
antiquarian  or  not,  may  well  be  grateful  The  value  of  the  photographs  of 
these  departing  monuments  which  the  Notes  contain  cannot  be  over-rated; 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will  continue  to  exhibit  promise  of  permanence. 
The  arguments  for  this  theory  need  not  detain  us  ;  but  the  tables  of  dates,  in 
the  loth  and  previous  centuries,  are  noteworthy.  The  defensive  value,  qu4  the 
adjacent  little  churches,  of  these  tapering  isolated  towers,  which  have  an 
internal  diameter  at  the  base  of  only  from  7  ft.  10  in.  to  10  ft  2  in.  must  be 
viewed  as  extremely  dubious. 

By  the  way  there  is  a  low  "  military  round  tower  "  at  Aghadoe  near  a  true 
round  tower.  It  is  like  "a  circular  Norman  keep  of  the  13th  century,"  is  21  ft. 
in  diameter  inside,  and  its  walls  are  6  ft.  thick,  while  those  of  the  true  round 
towers  are  3  or  4  ft.  There  are  three  more  "  military "  towers  known-of  in 
Kilkenny,  one  in  Waterford,  and  one  in  Wexford.* 

Lord  Dunraven,  although  using  the  terms  belfry  and  "  cloicthech  "  through- 
out his  work,  seems  to  have  abandoned  the  belfry  theory,  thus :  "Viewed  as  simply 
belfiies  and  no  more,  they  would  appear  as  poor  conceptions  and  failures  in 
design  ;"  and  he  quotes  with  approval  Dr.  Lynch's  Cambrensis  Eversus  {il,  191) 

»  Rev.  W.  Wright's  Empire  of  the  HittUts,  76. 

'  pp.  181,  182,  the  map,  and  passim.  '  yotes^  ii,  35,  36, 


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266 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


[Axis 


A 


cLvviitKr- 


of  the  time  of  queen  Elizabeth  : 
"In  course  of  time  the  custom 
was  introduced  of  hanging  bells 
in  the  top  of  them,  and  using 
them  as  beWries."* 

Here  are  tracings  from 
Petrie  (p.  363)  of  his  typi- 
cal outlines  of  the  Round 
Tower,  for  which  purpose 
he  chose  the  examples  at 
Clondalkin  and  Rosscar- 
bery. 


A 


I     f 


^^dCmAt^ 


THE  theory  which  I  venture  to  advance  is  that  the  Irish 
Round  Towers,  as  well  in  their  form  as  in  some  other  points 
connected  with  them,  are  a  survival  of  an  extremely  ancient 
heavens-worship,  and  a  symbol  of  the  mighty  axis  round  wWch 
the  heavens,  the  universe,  seemed  perpetually  and  stably  to 
revolve;  and  at  the  Northern  end,  the  summit,  of  which  the 
Most  High,  the  Motionless,  the  Swayer,  the  Polar  deity  of  the 
universe  had  his  awful  abode. 

And  I  further  hazard  the  opinion  that  the  Irish  pillar-stones 
were  minor  analogous  sacred  emblems. 

Let  me  then  first  endeavour  to  show  that  it  is  not  difficult  to 
demonstrate  the  leading  importance  of  a  mythic  Cosmic  Tower  in 
Irish  l^[ends  of  the  most  archaic  class. 

Under  the  heading  of  "  The  Wheel "  will  be  given  an  Irish 

*  Noies^  ii,  163,  170,  171. 


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MythsJ]  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  267 

Ship  and  Axis  myth.  Another  form  of  it  is  in  the  Historia 
Brittanium  of  Nennius.  Nimeth,  sailing  with  his  30  keels,  sees  a 
glass  Tower  in  the  centre  of  the  Ocean  with  men  in  it  who  never 
answer  when  spoken  to.  All  the  boats  attack  the  Tower,  and  all 
are  wrecked.*  This  was  otherwise  called  Tor  Conaing  or  Conaing's 
Tower,  in  Tor-y  island  or  TorInis= Tower-island,  which  was  at  last 
demolished  by  the  30,000  children  of  Nemed.  Tower-island  is  of 
course  a  figure  for  the  Earth  on  the  Tor-axis  ;  which  gives  a  most 
respectable  lineage  to  the  high  old  tories. 

Considering  that  my  proposed  identification  of  Crete  with  the 
Earth,  p.  138,  was  written  after  the  above  suggestion  that  Tor-inis 
also  =s the  Earth,  I  confess  I  find  it  somewhat  strange  to  come 
across  the  following  in  D'Arbois  de  Jubainville:  "this  island,  Tor- 
inis  in  the  Irish  narrative "  [of  the  Tower  of  Conann]  "  is  Crete 
in  Athenian  fable."*  And  I  shall  now  add  further  that  I  think 
we  must  trace  a  Cretan  tower-goddess  in  Tur6  (see  also  pp. 
136  and  285)  who  is  consort  both  of  Poseiddn  and  of  Kr^theus  ; 
that  is  the  axis  extends  from  Earth  to  Cosmic  ocean   (see  p. 

M.  d'Arbois  also  views  the  tower  of  Bregon  as  a  second  edition 
of  the  tower  of  Conann ;  but  as  he  places  it  in  the  land  of  the 
dead*  (read  the  inferior  hemisphere  ?)  we  must  I  think  see  in  this 
doublet  a  dual  tower,  like  the  dual  pillars  here  already  treated  of. 
The  tower  of  Conann  is  also  reproduced,  he  considers,  in  the  above 
tower  of  glass  told  of  by  Nennius,  and  M.  d'Arbois  identifies  that 
again  with  the  tower,  Ti}p<r*9,of  Kronos,*  which  I  have  here  (p.  191) 
claimed  as  the  Earth-axis. 

The  wicked  sorceress  Cluas  Haistig  lives  in  an  enchanted 
tower  in  mid-sea,  which  keeps  ever  turning.'  Here  we  even  have 
the  cosmic  rotation.  Up  this  tower  the  thief^climber  swarms — a 
clear  variant  of  Jack  and  the  Beanstalk. 

One  of  the  earliest  leading  events  in  Irish  Myth  is  the  mythic 
defeat  of  the  divine  Fearbolgs  by  the  equally  divine  Tuatha  De 
Dananns,  on  the  plain  of  the  Fomorian  tower,  Muigh-tuireth 
(or  Magh-tuireadh  =  Moytura)  na  bh  Fomorach.  The  Fomorians 
were  the  ocean-giants  of  the  North,  of  Lochlann.  Now  here  is  a 
mythic  plain  of  a  mythic  tower,  which  I  theorise  to  be  but  another 

>  Rhys*s  Hib,  Lects,  263,  262,  584.  '  Cycle  Myth,  IrU  103. 

»  Cycle  Myth,  Irl  230.  *  Pindmr  Olymp,  ii,  70, 

*  Folk  and  Hero  Tales  0/  Argyllshire,  1890,  451, 


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268 


The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


of  the  endless  cosmic  symbolisings  of  the  plain  of  the  heavens 
and  its  tower-axis  of  the  universe.  This  great  battle  of  the  war- 
in-heaven  has,  like  its  parallel  of  the  Seven  against  Thebes,  a 
doublet  in  the  second  battle  of  Moytura  between  the  same 
powers.  Seven  years  afterwards.  Nuadha  Silverhand  (airgeat- 
laimh)  and  Lugh  Longarms  (lamh-fada)  and  Balar  Evileye  or 
Mightyblows  are  of  course  divine  powers ;  and  the  battle  takes 
place  on  the  eve  of  Samain  (Baal-shemain=Lord  of  heavens) 
our  All-Hallow'een.  The  Irish  divided  the  year  by  Beltane,  ist  of 
May,  and  Samain  (also  Samhuin,  pron.  Savin  or  Sowan)  ist 
November ;  which  last  the  Christian  church  has  succeeded  in 
sinking  in  the  feast  of  All-Saints.  Thus  the  hosts  of  heaven 
fought  in  their  war-in-heaven  on  their  festival,  which  again  com- 
memorated the  event  Balar  of  the  Eye  (of  heaven)  is  also  com- 
memorated to  this  day  by  the  high  tower-like  rock  or  Tor  m6r 
(= Great  Tower)  in  Tory  Island,  which  is  called  Balor's  Castle. 

A  very  fine  and  important  Irish  legend,  which  is  in  brief  in 
the  Book  of  Lecan,  and  has  been  translated  by  O'Curry  in  the 
Atlantis  and  by  Dr.  Joyce,^  is  that  of  the  three  sons  of  Tuireann 
whose  name  obviously  indicates  a  Tower,  that  is  as  I  theorise  an 
Axis,  power.  The  three  sons  of  Tuireann  kill  Cian,  a  De  Danann 
the  fatiher  of  Lugh,  the  Lochlanns  invade  Erin  and  are  defeated, 
and  a  fabulous  series  of  Eric-fines  are  laid  on  the  triad.  They  have 
to  fetch  the  Three  Apples  of  the  garden  of  Hisberna ;  the  magic 
Pig's  skin  of  Tuis  of  Greece  ;  the  Spear  with  the  blazing  point; 
a  chariot  and  horses  that  travel  a3  easily  over  sea  as  over  land ; 
the  Seven  pigs  of  Asal  (Norse  ?)  the  king  of  the  golden  Pillars  ; 
a  hound-whelp  called  Failinis  (Erin  is  called  Inisfail)  belonging  to 
the  Northern  king  of  loruaidhe  (which  seems  a  wheel  name);  the 
roasting-spit  of  the  thrice  fifty  women  of  Fianchaire  (white-rock  ?) ; 
and  finally  the  triad  have  to  shout  thrice  on  the  hill  of  Miodhchaoin 
(miodh=mid,  centre)  in  the  North  of  Lochlann.  During  their 
quest  they  sail  in  an  enchanted  Canoe  which  is  clearly  a  variant  of 
the  good  ship  Argo. 

Now  all  these  are  "  properties  "  in  celestial  Cosmic  Myths,  and 
the  whole  of  the  exploits  of  this  Tower,  this  Axis,  triad  are  of  a 
similar  character.  The  Eric-fines  are  laid  on  them,  too,  in  Miodh- 
Chuarta,  Mid-court,  the  central  heavens-palace  of  Tara  (also  a  hill 


Old  Celtu  Romances y  1879,  p.  37. 


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MythsJ]  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  269 

or  tower  name).  Brigit,  the  mother  of  this  triad  is  made  a  goddess 
by  d'Arbois  de  Jubainville ;  and  she  was  daughter  of  Dagde 
(=good  god)  whom  he  holds  to  have  been  a  supreme  deity.* 

In  a  Gaelic  story,*  a  king  promises  his  slaughter  and  two-thirds 
of  his  kingdom  to  anyone  who  can  get  her  out  of  a  turret  which 
was  aloft,  on  the  top  of  four  carraghan  towers. 

I  just  note  here  in  addition  the  following  passage  from  the 
Book  of  Lismore,  apparently  about  the  Saint  Bridget,  who  suc- 
ceeded the  same-named  goddess : 

She  was  one  night  there  after  noctums  praying,  when  appeared  to  her  the 
churches  of  all  Ireland,  and  a  tower  of  fire  from  each  church  of  them  unto 
heaven.  The  fire  that  rose  from  Inis-Cathaig  was  that  which  was  greatest 
of  them,  and  was  brightest,  and  was  straightest  unto  heaven.' 

Here,  it  is  submitted,  I  have  given  quite  sufficient  prima  facie 
evidence  of  the  leading  position  of  the  Tower  among  the  radicals 
of  the  oldest  Irish  myths,  and  an  ample  suggestion  of  the 
symbolic  importance  of  the  Tower  in  pre-historic  legendary 
Ireland. 

Caesar,  in  a  much-used  passage,*  identified  the  chief  god  of  the  Gauls  with 
Merdirius.  That  this  was  done  generally  may  be  deduced  from  Gallo- Roman 
inscriptions,  and  one  of  these  is  a  dedication  Mercurio  Touren  \p]^  Bearing  in 
mind  my  (proposed)  identifications  of  Mercury  (p.  53)  as  an  axis-god,  and  of  the 
tower  with  the  axis,  I  suggest  that  we  have  the  name  of  this  Celtic  god  in  the 
Irish  Tuireann  just  mentioned  (see  also  p.  286). 


Having  thus  dealt  with  the  Irish  mythic  Cosmic  Tower,  let  us 
return  to  the  minor  though  doubtless  older  symbol  of  the  upright 
stone,  whether  in  myth,  legend  or  chronicle. 

And  first  let  me  refer  to  Petrie  for  descriptions  of  the 
"obeliscal  pillar-stones  so  numerous  in  this  country."*  The  word 
gcUl  was  explained  in  Cormac's  tenth-century  Glossary  as  primarily 
the  name  of  these  standing  stones,  coirthe  cloice,  or  pillar-stones  ; 
and  all  over  Munster,  where  they  are  very  common,  the  word 
dalldn,  said  to  be  a  corruption  of  galldriy  a  diminutive  of  golly  is 
still  used  for  them. 

>  Cycle  Mythol  Irl  372. 

-  Campbeirs  Wat- Highland  Talis,  iii,  265. 

■  Mr.  B.  MacCarthy*s  translation  in  Academy ,  31  Jan.  1891,  p.  114. 

^  Debello  Gall,  vi,  17. 

•  Brambach,  Corp,  inscr.  I^Aenarum,  No.  1830. 

•  Ul  supra,  p.  8. 


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2  70  The  Nigki  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

See  pp.  I47f  1349  where  an  effort  is  made  to  connect  dall^  with  the  French 
dalle  and  the  place-name  MoyAoXa,  as  well  as  with  DaiDalos.  No  Celtic 
scholar  seems  to  connect  dall  with  the  first  syllable  of  dolmtn.  May  it  not 
be  doubted  that  dall  is  only  a  "  corruption  **  of  gall  ?  However,  I  find  no 
place-names  in  Ireland  containmg  dall  or  dallkn,  unless  it  be  the  ancient 
Northern  Dakiadaor  Dalaradia.^  The  names  Dalgan,  Dalgin,  and  Dalligan 
are  brought  from  dealg  a  thorn,  which  word  may  however  be  cognate  with 
daU. 

The  name  Dalian  Forgaill  is  found  connected  with  Finn's  name  in  Irish 
myth,  in  the  Leber  na  h'Uidhre.  It  is  said  to  be  the  name  of  a  6th-century 
disciple  of  Columba's.'  Heimdall  in  Norse  mythology  may  mean  straightly 
Home-stone  ?  (Icelandic,  heima  home,  heimr  abode  village.  Danish  hiem, 
Swedish  hem,  Gothic  haims  village.)  Of  course  the  home-stone  is  the  central 
hearth-stone,  (see  p.  280  infra).  Compare  Svegder  seeking  GodAeim  in  a 
stone  p.  117  supra.  The  dwelling  of  the  god  Heimdallr  (home-stone-er  ?)  is 
actually  called  HiminBi6rg  (heavens-rocks)  which  seems  to  clench  the  proof 
of  my  case  as  to  heim-dall  (see  **  The  Rock  of  Ages  ")• 

The  word  coirthe  (pronounce,  corha)  is  also  still  well  under- 
stood, but  is  applied  to  a  larger  standing-stone,  such  as  that  on 
Cnoc  a  Coirthe,  the  hill  of  the  pillar-stone,  in  Roscommon.* 

These  words  have  given  names  to  a  great  number  of  places  in  Ireland, 
such  as  Glemr^tr,  Dmamacarray  Gallane,  Dmmgai/any  AghsLgiiilim^  KWguUaney 
Czngulliz^  GallsLgh.  There  is  another  word  for  a  standing-stone,  liag^  (pron. 
leegavm,  a  diminutive  of  Hag  a  flagstone)  and  it  has  also  given  such  place- 
names  as  Leegane,  Liggins,  Ballylegan,  Tooraleagan,  and  so  on.^ 

All  tradition  of  the  early  significance  of  the  dallin  has,  like 
that  of  the  round  towers,  long  since  departed,  and  the  enquiries  of 
the  enfant  terrible  now  often  elicit  no  more  from  his  Irish  nurse 
than  that  such  stones  were  put  up  in  the  fields  for  the  cows  to  rub 
themselves  to.  Even  so  long  as  nine  centuries  ago.  Archbishop 
Cormac  (McCulIenan)  explained  their  name  gall^  which  is  a  rock 
or  stone,  as  having  arisen  because  the  Galli  first  fixed  them  in 
Ireland.  I  propose  to  consider  them  as  cognate  emblems  with 
the  round  towers  ;  relics  of  the  adoration  of  an  axis  or  Polar  deity, 
and  of  the  stone-worship  from  which  that  cult  cannot  be  disjoined. 

*  Dr.  P.  W.  Joyce  the  able  transUtor  of  the  delightful  Old  Celtic  Romances  has 
kindly  furnished  me  with  the  following  note :  "  Dr.  Graves  in  his  Essay  on  Ogham 
throws  out  the  suggestion  that  dallan  is  the  original  and  gallan  a  cormption— on  this 
ground,  that  pillar-stones  were  often  set  up  to  mark  boundaries,  and  that  they  are  called 
aallan  firom  dcU  a  division"  (Letter  of  12th  December  189 1).  Of  course  I  say  on  this 
that  the  word  dcU  as  a  division  followed  from  the  sense  of  dal  the  holy  stone,  set  up  to* 
taboo  the  boundary. 

«  Folk  and  Hero  Tales  from  Argyllshire^  1890,  428. 

'  Petrie,  ut  sup,  19.  *  Joyce's  Names,  i,  342  (4th  ed). 


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MythsJ]  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  271 

A  passage  from  the  "  Leabbar  na  h'-Uidhre  "  clearly  proves  that 
stone-worship  was,  when  that  very  ancient  book  was  composed, 
still  considered  to  have  prevailed  in  Ireland  in  the  third  century. 

A  great  king  of  great  judgements  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  Erin — 
CormaCt  son  of  Art,  son  of  Conn  the  Hundred-fighter.  Erin  was  prosperous 
in  his  time,  because  just  judgements  were  distributed  throughout  it  by  him  ;  so 
that  no  one  durst  attempt  to  wound  a  man  in  Erin  during  the  short  jtibilee 
cA  seven  years  ;  for  Cormac  had  the  foith  of  the  one  true  God  according  to  the 
Law  ;  for  he  said  that  he  would  not  cuhre  stones  or  trees,  but  that  he  would 
adore  him  who  had  made  them  (Petrie,  p.  98). 

Conn  the  Himdred-fighter  is  said  to  have  been  hard  at  work  making  his 
**  century "  circa  A.D.  i6o ;  his  death  is  put  in  190.  And  C^dcathach  means 
hundred-fighter,  antagonist  of  a  hundred,  and  not  '*  of  the  hundred  fights,'' 
as  it  is  generally  rendered.*  The  British  Cadwallader  (cead-balladoir,  hundred^ 
beater)  is  a  synonymous  title.' 

In  Irish  myth,  Ecca  (Eochaidh^  horseman),  who  appears  to  be 
a  parallel  to  the  centaurs,  departs  from  Mumha  with  his  brother 
Rib  and  ten  hundred  of  his  people  towards  the  North,  until  by 
the  advice  of  their  druids  they  separate  at  the  Pass  of  the  Two 
Pillar-stones  (see  p.  255  suprd)^  whence  he  goes  onwards  to  the 
heavens-palace,  Brugh-na-Boinne,  the  home  of  Angus  Maclndoc 
(see  p.  228  supra\  One  of  the  three  venomous  hounds  overtakes 
Diarmait  and  Grania  at  Duban's  pillar-stone.'  In  his  Pursuit  of 
the  Giolla  Deacair*  (lazy  gillie)^  a  clear  horse-god,  Diarmait  comes 
to  a  vast  rocky  cliff  smooth  as  glass,  and  towering  into  the  clouds. 
Having  climbed  it  with  the  aid  of  his  two  long  deadly  spears,  he 
sees  on  a  vast  flowery  plain  a  great  tree  laden  with  fruit  and 
surrounded  by  a  circle  of  pillar-stones,  while  one  tallest  stone 
stands  in  the  centre  near  the  tree ;  and  by  this  great  stone  is  a 
large  round  spring-well  from  the  centre  of  which  the  water  bubbles 
up  and  flows  away  over  the  plain  in  a  slender  stream.*  Here  is 
the  Axis-pillar  close  by  the  Axis-tree,  and  the  heavens-river 
flowing,  as  in  all  aiythologies,  from  the  same  central  supreme  spot. 
We  have  some  of  the  same  properties  in  the  Welsh  Owein 
legends.* 

D.  O'SuUivan  very  properly  remarked  that  the  Irish  hoh'est 

*  Dr.  Joyce's  Celtic  Romances^  409,  418. 

*  D.  0*Sullivan*s  Poisies  des  Bardes^  Paris,  1853.  p.  46. 

*  Dr.  Joyce's  Celtic  Romancesy  1879,  pp.  98,  31a 

*  First  translated  by  Dr.  Joyce  ut  sup,  pp.  223,  xv. 
»  IHd.  p  247  ;  Rhys'*  ffi^'  ^^^  i8«. 

*  Loth's  MabiHogion.  ii,  10,  etc. 


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»7a  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

wells  have  near  them  an  old  oak,  or  an  upright  unhewn  stone, 
round  which  (here  he  quotes  Charles  ©'Conor's  third  letter  signed 
"  Columbanus  ")  the  devotees  go  on  their  knees  three,  six,  or  nine 
times.^  Petrie  (p.  115),  endorsing  Dr.  O'Conor's  view,  stated  that 
"  to  this  day  the  word  used  for  a  .pilgrimage  by  the  common 
Irish  is  ailithre  ...  a  word  composed  of  ail  a  great  upright 
rock  or  stone,  and  itriallam,  correctly  triallaim^  to  go  round."  But 
surely,  on  the  analogy  of.  the  Latin,  -ithre  is  cognate  to  iter  (from 
ire)  a  journey  ? 

Dr.  Joyce*  says  that  ail  =  stone,  and  Mr.  E.  R.  Wharton*  puts  ail  and 
Lithuanian  ula  rock  with  \aas  stone.  There  is  also  aill  (=  feill)  rock  cliff 
precipice.  From  ail  came  aileach  a  round  stone  fortress,  the  name  of  the 
stronghold  of  the  Northern  HyNeill  on  a  hill  four  miles  from  Derry  (see 
Ordnance  memoir  of  Templemore  parish).  It  is  still  called  Greenan-Ely 
(=grianan-ailigh,  stone-palace),  and  has  three  concentric  ramparts  encircling 
a  round  cashel  of  cyclopean  masonry. 

Merlin,  according  to  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,^  transported  by 
magic  the  pillar-stones  of  the  choir  (coirthe  ?)  of  Giants — chorea 
gigantum — which  stood  on  the  "  Killaraus  Mons  "  in  Ireland,  and 
set  them  up  in  the  same  order  at  Stanheng,  Stonehenge.  Now 
Giraldus  Cambrensis*  says  of  Meath,  the  fifth  the  central  province 
of  Ireland,  that  the  Castrum  Nasense  (of  Naas),  a  mass  of  pro- 
digious stones,  was  called  the  chorea  gigantum,  and  that  the  stones 
had  been  brought  by  the  giants  from  the  ends  of  Africa  ;  and 
that  the  Castrum  of  Kilair*  was  called  the  stone  and  umbilicus  of 
Hibemia,  as  if  placed  in  the  midst  and  middle  of  the  land,  medio 
et  meditullio.    (To  this  I  return  under  the  head  of  "  The  Navel") 

The  gorsedh  or  court  under  the  authority  of  which  an  Eisted- 
hvod  is  still  held  takes  place  in  the  open  air,  a  circle  of  stones 
being  formed,  with  a  bigger  stone  in  the  middle ;  and  a  druid  still 
presides. 

The  Kilair  stone  above  mentioned  was  very  big,  and  was 
cursed  by  St.  Patrick.*^  At  Mag  Slecht  was  the  chief  idol  of 
Ireland,  called  Cenn  Cruaich  (Moundchief),  covered  with  gold  and 
silver,  and  twelve  other  idols  about  it  covered  with  brass.     St 

•  Poesies  dts  Bardes^  Paris,  1853,  pp.  91,  92. 

^  Irish  NameSf  ist  series,  4th  ed.  pp.  292,  409  ;  2nd  series,  p.  2.      *  Etyma  Graccu 

•  Hist,  viii,  9  to  12 ;  iv,  4. 

•  Topog,  Hibem,  ii,  18 ;  iii,  4. 

^  San-Marte's  Nennius,  p.  361,  and  Camden.     Loth's  Mabinog,  ii,  297. 
7  Rhjs's  ffib,  Lects,  192,  200,  208. 


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MytksJ]  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  «73 

Patrick  shook  his  crozier  (see  Lituus)  at  them,  and  the  main  idol 
"bowed  westwards  to  turn  on  its  right  side,  for  its  face  ^^s  front 
the  South  "  [that  is,  to  the  North  ?]  "  to  wit,  to  Tara."  The  other 
twelve  were  swallowed-up  by  the  earth  to  their  heads.  These 
must  also  have  been  stones,  and  perhaps  the  most  important  of 
such  stones  generally  were  so  ornamented  and  enriched  ;  as  were 
the  Baitulia,  which  were  dressed-up,  like  many  human  idols  of  the 
gods,  with  clothes  and  ornaments  which  varied  with  the  feasts,*  as 
altar-vestments  do  to  this  day.  Damascius*  mentioned  the 
baitulos  enveloped  in  its  veils.  A  coin  of  Uranius  Antoninus 
shows  the  Emessa  stone  of  Elagabalus  covered  with  an  enriched 
envelope,  of  metal  apparently,  and  topped  by  a  pointed  crown 
with  a  sort  of  curtain  or  mantle  of  stuff  round  about  Coins 
which  give  the  manapsa  or  stone  of  Artemis  at  Perg^  in  Pamphylia 
evidently  figure  a  metal  bell-like  cover.  We  see  similar  metal 
coverings,  showing  only  the  face  and  hands,  on  Russian  and  Greek 
church-pictures  to  this  day. 

The  rock  or  pillar-stone  of  Cndmchoill  (Cleghile)  near  Tipperary 
was  a  fragment  of  the  Wheel  by  means  of  which  Simon  Drui 
sailed  in  the  air.  Mog  Ruith  and  his  daughter,  a  great  Druid  and 
Druidess  of  Valencia,  Were  pupils  of  Simon  Drui,  and  the  daughter 
brought  this  fragment  to  Ireland.  This  strange  and  striking 
junction  of  the  Pillar  and  the  Wheel  is  of  firstrate  significance  in 
this  Inquiry,  It  is  fully  dealt-with  under  the  heading  of  "  The 
Wheel"  in  Vol.  II.  There  also  the  Welsh  goddess  ArianRhod, 
Bright-wheel,  is  treated  of. 

In  a  legend  in  the  Book  of  Leinster  {Mhca  Ulad)  Trisgatal  the 
strong  man  of  Ulster,  that  is  the  extreme  North,  pulls  out  of  the 
ground  the  pillar-stone  which  all  the  clanna  Degad  gannot  move.* 
Here  we  obviously  have  a  doublet  of  Arthur*s  magic  sword,  and 
both  are  symbols  of  the  axis. 

Petrie  admitted   indeed,*  in   the  case  of  the   pillar-stone   of 
Kilmalkedar,  that  it 
may  have  been  originally  a  pagan  monument,  consecrated  to  the  service  of 

Christianity  by  inscribing  on  it    .    .    .    the  nam6  of  the  Lord It 

was  not  unusual  for  the  Irish  apostle  thus  to  dedicate  pagan  monuments  to  the 
honour  of  the  true  god. 

This  admission  howeVer  scarcely  contains  a  concession  of  the 
argument  I  am  here  seeking  to  develop. 

'  Rev,  numismat,  1843,  P-  270,  etc.  (Ch.  Lcnormant).       *  Bekker's  ed.  p.  348. 
»  Folk  and  Hero  Tales  of  Argyllshire^  1890,  446.  *  Ut  supra^  p.  132. 

S 


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274  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

The  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland  visited  in  1890 
Glencolumbkille  in  Donegal,  where  they  found  "  some  forty  stones 
scattered  up  and  down  the  valley,  which  are  penitential  *  stations  ' 
to  this  day.  Some  of  the  pillar-stones  are  finely  carved  with 
figures  and  the  usual  interlaced  Irish  patterns.  On  the  slope  of 
Glen  Head,  which  rises  perpendicularly  from  the  sea  to  a  height  of 
800  feet,  is  a  holy  well  with  a  cairn  of  stones  left  by  devotees,  and 
some  ruins  with  a  large  stone  called  St.  Columb's  Bed.  This  is 
kissed  as  a  cure  for  all  kinds  of  diseases,  and  is  the  last  spot  visited 
in  the  penance."^  The  words  penance  and  penitential  are  some- 
what inaccurate  here,  I  fancy. 

I  must  insert  here  the  Pelvan  or  Pierre  lev^e,  which  Littr^  described  as 
une  "pierre  longiie  dress^e  perpendiculairement  en  forme  de  pilier  (Basbreton 
peulvan— ^^«^/  pilier,  man  figure).  I  find  the  term  "  Pierres  fites  ou  levies  "  in 
the  Hist  Utt  de  la  France  commenced  by  the  Benedictines  (xx,  623).  Fites  = 
fi'^tes  fixtes  ?  _____ 

Upon  the  general  subject  of  stone-worship,  the  Reader  must 
be  requested  to  refer  back  to  the  Section  which  deals  with  B^th- 
fels  and  to  the  Index.  Here  can  be  set  down  only  a  few  facts 
which  seem  to  connect  themselves  more  closely,  from  the  historical 
p(»int  of  view,  with  stone-worship  in  Ireland. 

There  still  remain  certain  Irish  pillar-stones  with  circular 
artificial  holes,  through  which  (whether  originally  so  or  not)  faith 
was  in  later  times  plighted  between  persons  who  grasped  hands 
through  the  opening.  This  "  hand-fasting  "  through  a  pillar  was 
known  in  Orkney  as  a  "promise  to  Odinn,"  so  late  as  1781.* 

In  the  7th  century  St.  Eloi  forbad  Christians  to  pray  at  pagan  shrines 
(fana)  or  stones  or  wells  or  trees.* 

In  the  8th  century  Charlemagne  and  the  Councils  had  to  fulminate  against 
the  worship  of  stones  wells  and  trees,  and  the  Saxons  still  worshipped  wells 
and  trees  in  the  13th  century.  The  Council  of  Leptine  (743)  forbad  oblations  to 
be  made  on  stones  called  fanes  of  Jupiter  and  Mercurius  ;  and  the  Councils  of 
Aries,  Tours,  and  many  synods,  and  the  capitulary  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  789, 
renewed  these  prohibitions.*  Up  to  this  present  century  there  were  stones  on 
the  banks  of  the  Lot  which  the  French  peasants  oiled  and  decked  with  flowers, 
believing  that  if  they  could  do  so  undetected  they  would  be  cured  of  or  pre- 
served from  the  fever.*  The  bishop  of  Cahors  had  one  of  the  stones 
destroyed  (see  also  p.  126  sufira), 

*  Atkemtumf  20th  Sept.  1890,  p.  393. 

*  W.  G.  Wood-Martin's  Rude  Stone  Monuments  of  Ireland,  1888. 
'  De  Baecker  Relig,  Nord  France,  301,  316,  317. 

*  Capitular  Caroli  Mag,  i,  150,  and  Du  Cange. 

*  C.  Coture  :  Hist,  du  Qttercy,  i,  5. 


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MythsJ]  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  275 

Seidell's  De  Dts  Syris^  (which  Prof.  W.  Robertson  Smith*  says  is  by  no 
means  superseded  by  the  Phenizier  of  Movers)  cites  Rabbi  Nathan  as 
mentioning  the  fani  Merkolis  or  fanes  of  Mercurius  which  were  simply  three 
stones  placed,  unus  hinc,  alter  illinc,  tertius  super  utrumque — dolmens  in  fact 
(see  p.  254),  as  we  now  catalogue  them.  Another  rabbi,  cited  by  Drusius,  called 
them  simply  Mercurii.  Prof  W.  Robertson  Smith*  has  also  pointed  out  bow, 
before  the  time  of  Mohanmied,  the  greater  gods  of  the  Arabs  had  to  a  large 
extent  become  anthropomorphic,  or  were  represented  at  their  sanctuaries  (if 
not  worshipped  as  images  of  human  form)  by  a  simple  pillar,  or  by  an  altar, 
of  stone ;  sometimes  by  a  sacred  tree.  My  suggestion  would  be  that  these 
Arabian  pillar-stones  were  originally  erected  to  the  supreme  heavens-deity 
alone  ;  but  all  the  leading  gods  were  central,  and  they  all  subdivide  in  time, 
to  meet  the  subdivision  of  their  worshippers.  There  is  a  sufficiently  remark- 
able connexion  between  this  Arabian  record  and  that  which  has  already  been 
adduced  (p.  271)  as  to  Cormac  the  grandson  of  Conn  forswearing  the  worship 
of  stones  and  trees  ;  and  it  even  renders  the  theory  of  a  Phoenician  connexion 
with  the  Irish  pillar-stones  some  whit  less  unlikely. 


Sq  far  as  to  the  Irish  pillar-stqnes ;  but  the  attentive  Reader 
will  have  already  detected  in  the  Section  dealing  with  "The 
Pillar  "  (pp.  204  to  207)  that  it  is  almost  in^possible  to  draw  a  hard 
and  fast  line  of  demarcation  between  the  sacred  pillar  and  the 
sacred  tower.  The  solid  pillar  becomes  hollow,  the  hollow  pillar 
becomes  a  chambered. pillar;  and  that  again  differentiates  into  the 
tower.  I  shall  even  submit  that  the  Irish  Round  Tower,  as  so 
fully  and  minutely  described  and  depicted  by  Petrie's  master  hand, 
would  ip  any  attempt  at  a-rigidly  scientific  classification  naturally 
fall  nearer  to  a  category  of  chambered  pillars  than  to  one  of 
towers,  as  we  ^now  employ  the  latter  word.  This  is  amply  clear 
from  their  high-yp  door,  which  was  to  hinder  rather  than  to  afford 
access  ;  their  ^interior  exiguity  ;  and  the  doubt,  in  most  if  not  in  all 
cases,  as  to  how  their  stories,  floors,  and  stairs  were  adjusted. 

The  height  of  the  doors  above  the  ground  outside  is  generally  13  ft.,  though 
the  door  at  Scattpry-is  on  the  ground.  At  Lusk  the  doorway  is  4  ft.  ;  and  in 
others  8,  n,  and  13  ft.  above  the  exterior  level.* 

Attention  must  again  be  drawn  to  the  minar  at  Gaur  (p.  207 
supra)  of  which  Tergusson  said  it  looked  "  more  like  an  Irish 
round-tower  than  any  other  example  known  "  ;  and  that  also  has  the 
elevated  doorway.  One  other  close  parallel  can  be  added  from 
Petrie  himself  (p.  29).  which  does  more  than  suggest  a  connexion 
between  the  pillar-tower,  the  pillar-stone,  and  the  worship.     Lord 

*  C.  Coture  :  Hist,  du  Quercy,  ii,  cap.  15.         *  Relig,  of  Semites  (1889),  pp.  ix,  437. 
»  Kinship  and  Marriage y  207.  *  Lord  Dunraven's -A^<7/^,  ii,  23,  150. 

S    2 


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276 


The  Night  of  the  Gods, 


[Axis 


Valentia,  in  his  "  Travels  in  the  East  Indies,"  described  the  two 
round  towers  one  mile  North-west  of  Bhaugulpoor.  He  was 
much  pleased  at  sighting  them,  as  they  resembled  the  towers  of 
Ireland  ;  but  they  are  a  little  more  ornamented,  the  door  about  the 
same  height  from  the  ground.  There  was  no  tradition  concerning 
them,  but  the  Rajah  of  Jyenegar  considered  them  holy,  and  had 
built  a  small  shelter  for  the  great  number  of  his  subjects  who 
s^nnually  came  to  worship  there.  The  early  Christians  can  scarcely 
have  had  aught  to  do  with  these  particular  Indian  pillar-towers, 
which  are  those  near  Bhagalpur  that  the  Jains  still  frequent  for 
pilgrimage  and  worship.  Indeed  Petrie  wrote^  :  "  I  am  far  from 
wishing  to  deny  that  a  remarkable  conformity  is  to  be  found 
between  many  of  the  Round  Towers,  whether  Christian  or 
Mahomedan,  noticed  by  travellers,  and  our  Irish  towers." 

On  the  lower  or  square  part  of  the  stambhas  or  solitary  pillars  of  the 
Jains  of  southern  India,  says  Fer^sson,*  as  well  as  on  the  pillars  inside  the 
temples  at  Moodbidri  and  elsewhere  in  Canara,  we  find  "  that  curious  interlaced 
basket-pattern  which  is  so  familisur  to  us  from  Irish  manuscripts  or  the  orna- 
ments of  Irish  crosses.  It  is  equally  common  in  Armenia,  and  can  be  traced 
up  the  valley  of  the  Danube  into  central  Europe."  Of  course  this  last  bit  is 
only  one  of  Fergusson's  "  views,"  and  need  not  be  conceded  more  than  its  due 
modicum  of  weight. 

To  sho\y  (see  p.  263)  how  the  Moslems  sometimes  add  the 
round  minaret,  here  is  a  rough  sketch  of  one 
at  the  Haidar  Pasha  mosque  in  Nicosia 
(St.  Katherine's  church)  ;  and  another  very 
strange  example  of  a  ruined  minaret  on  a 
ruined  church-steeple, 
a  fine  specimen  of  a 
campanile,  at  Jaitzc 
in  Bosnia*  *' The  cir- 
cular plan  W4S  much 


J^«.t..^<A!4 


i  Ut  supra^  p.  30.  *  Indian  Arch,  p.  277. 

•  I.  de  Asb6th's  Bosnia  and  Herugovina^  1890,  p.  421. 


•VH^  ydLynjL 


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Myths ^  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  277 

used  by  Moslem  races  for  their  minarets,"  says  the  Encyclopedia 
Britannica. 


"  Round  towers  wider  and  lowe^  than  the  Irish  appear  to  have 
been  built  by  many  prehistoric  races  in  different  parts  of  Europe. 
Many  examples  exist  in  Scotland,  and  in  the  islands  of  Corsica 
and  Sardinia.  They  are  called  brochs  in  Scotland,  and  seeto  to  be 
the  work  of  a  pre-Christian  Celtic  race."^ 

The  church  of  Bramfield  in  Suffolk  has  a  detached  round- 
tower  which  stands  some  distance  away  from  the  church.*  There 
are  many  round-towered  churches  in  this  quarter  of  England,  as 
for  example  at  Mettingham,  Haddiscoe,  Watton,  Fritton,  and  near 
Cromer  (Norfolk),  and  Bungay  (Suffolk).  The  country-people 
have  a  tale  that  these  round-towers  wesre  the  casings  of  wells 
before  the  deluge,  which  succeeded  in  washing  the  land  away, 
leaving  the  circular  stone-work  standing.*  But  this  is  too  obviously 
not  a  legend  but  a  tough  "^ell,^'  of  the  "tiling  to  make  a  fool  ask  " 
description.  The  Encyclopedia  Britannica^  briefly  asserts  that  these 
round  towers,  which  are  at  the  West  end  of  churches  in  Norfolk 
Suffolk  and  Es^ex,  are  "  Norman  "  ;  which  does  not  help  us  too 
much.  All  the  Irish  round-towers  stand  a  little  to  the  N.  or  N.  W. 
(points  not  accurately  stated  or  ascertained)  of  the  churches  near 
them.* 

The  round  Towers  covered  with  a  dome,  which  exist  in  the 
island  of  Sardinia  (see  p.  284)  are  also  attributed  to  an  unknown 
archaic  race,  says  Colonel  Hermant  of  the  French  Artillery,  who 
seeitis  to  have  fencduritered  a  somewhat  similar  tower  in  Algeria 
(dans  le  Sud  Oranais),  terminating  fn  a  rounded  and  massive 
capping:  (coiffi^e  d'une  calotte  arrondie  ^t  massive).® 

Lord  Duriraveri'  gives  authentic  particulars  and  sketches  of  a 
great  number — ^some  two-and-twenty — continental   round  towers, 

*  EncycL  Brit,,  citing  Andfersbn's  Scotland  in  Pagan  Times  (1883)  and  Seotland  in 
Early  Times  (\^i), 

*  J.  J.  Hissey's  Tour  in  a  Phaeton^  1889,  p.  152. 

'  /^.  153,  i75»  »77,  i«5,  189,  225.  271. 

*  xxi,  22  (9th  ed.) 

*  Lord  Dunraven*s  Notes^  ii,  23,  152,  154. 

*  Academic  des  Sciences,  8th  Dec.  1889. 
7  Notes,  ii,  148,  156,  162. 


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278  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

none  of  which  however  has  any  exact  typical  resemblance  to  the 
Irish  towers,  except  in  a  common  roundness,  and  in  the  conical 
tops  of  some ;  and  both  those  facts  are  of  leading  symbolic  im- 
portance. 

The  divine  companions  of  the  great  Mexican  deity  Quctzalcoatl 
raised  mounds  or  pyramids  of  stones  and  bricks,  and  they  gave 
their  pillars  the  form  of  serpents,  not  an  infrequent  Irish  middle- 
age  ornamentation.  Quetzalcoatl  himself  invented  (that  is,  of 
course,  created)  the  tower  absolutely  round  and  without  angles, 
which,  says  M.  Eugene  Beauvois,  *'  has  such  a  curious  parallel  in 
gaelic  lands."* 

Round  towers  some  33  feet  high,  and  half  that  diameter, 
have  just  been  discovered  by  Mr.  J.  Theodore  Bent  at  Zimbabwl 
in  MAshona-land.  This  is  where  he  found  the  soapstone  poles  or 
pillars,  with  the  birds  on  top.  (See  "  Divine  Birds  "  in  Vol.  II,  and 
Proceedings  of  the  Geographical  and  Anthropological  Societies, 
May  1892.) 


Petrie  says*  that  the  Irish  rbuhti  toW^ers  "  are  finished  at  the  top 
with  a  conical  roof  of  stone  which  frequently,  as  there  is  evefy 
reason  to  believe,  terminated  with  a  cross  formed  of  a  single 
stone."  It  does  not  appear  that  he  adduced  one  single  reason  for 
this  belief.  If  he  has,  the  passage  has  escaped  my  very  careful 
reading.  One  might  with  equal  apparent  probability  suggest  that 
the  roof  was  terminated  with  "  a  round  ball  stuck  on  a  spike  "  like 
those  "  buildings  of  the  PoUygars  of  the  Circars  of  India "  men- 
tioned in  Pennant's  View  of  Hindoostan  (ii,  123),  which  buildings 
are  "  of  a  cylindrical  or  round-tower  shape,  with  their  tops  pointed 
at  the  summit.  One  is  inclined  to  claim  as  Cosmic  this  ball  on  a 
spike,  that  is  the  sphere  transpierced  by  its  axis  ;  and  much  will  be 
said  later  on  (see  Index)  as  to  the  important  symbolism  of  this 
conical  roof-cap.  (See  also  what  is  said  of  the  Egyptian  benben 
at  p.  199  supra,  and  of  the  phalae  at  p.  240.) 

With  reference  to  this  "  ball  on  a  spike,"  the  wooden  "  rattles "  used  by 
"  sorcerers,"  that  is  I  presume  priests,  in  British  Guiana,  are  still  of  such  a 

'  VElysie  des  Mexicaim  in  Rev.  de  THist,  des  Relig.  x,  289,  295. 
«  Ut  supra,  p.  356. 


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Myths ^  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland.  279 

form,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  specimens  in  the  Museum  of  St. 
Augustine's  College  at  Canterbury  (8th  July  1890).  The  whole 
sacred  symbol  is  two  feet  high,  and.  stands  on  a  round  base.  The 
hollow  ball  is  of  thin  wood,  and  about  eight  inches  in  diameter,  with 
two  slits  in  it  like  those  on  the  front  of  a  fiddle.  Is  not  this  a  sort 
of  bull-roarer  ?  See  also  what  is  said  as  to  the  Japanese  nu-hoko  on  | 
p.  67. 

Lord  Dunraven'  gave  some  particulars  of  the  capstones  of  the 
Round-tower  roofs.  At  Antrim  "  a  portion  of  the  original  stone 
which  crowned  the  conical  top  is  still  preser\'cd  There  is  a  square 
hole  in  the  centre,  into  which  a  small  wedge-shaped  stone  fitted  "  ("  probably 
a  cross  "  is  added,  but  why  ?).  At  Ardmore  :  "  Last  year  (?  date)  the  capstone 
fell  down,  and  only  half  of  it  is  now  preserved.  It  is  about  2  ft  high  and  is 
semi-circular,  i  ft  8  in.  in  diameter ;  the  other  half  must  have  been  split  off. " 
[This  is  somewhat  vague.]  Elsewhere  it  is  stated  that  Professor  Willis'  "alludes 
to  a  floral  ornament  in  the  plan  [on  parchment,  of  the  towers  of  St.  Gall  near 
Lake  Constance]  which  is  also  often  seen  in  MSS.  of  the  9t]i  century,  and 
which  Lord  Dunraven  suggests  may  indicate  the  ornamental  finial  of  the 
conical  roof."    I  can  only  presume  that  the  fleur-de-lis  is  here  meant. 


That  pre-Christian  sacred,  as  wdl  as  domestic  and  other, 
buildings  might  have  been  round  as  well  as  of  any  other  shape  is  so 
self-evident,  in  the  nature  of  things,  as  almost  to  go  without 
telling ;  but  here  are  some  leading  instances  of  the  fact. 

"  The  houses  of  the  ancient  Irish  were  circular,  and  generally 
made  of  wood."* 

The  late  Laurence  Oliphant,*  writing  from  Taganrog  in  1852, 
describes  the  round  houses  of  the  Don  Cossacks  as  being  "  like 
the  haystacks  with  which  they  were  always  surrounded,  and  from 
which  you  could  scarcely  distinguish  them." 

The  most  usual,  if  not  the  most  ancient  form  of  the  European 
hut,  says  Dr.  O.  Schrader,  was  circular.  If  this  is  correct  we  shall 
not  go  far  wrong  in  regarding  it  as  an  imitation  of  the  felt-covered 
circular  tent  of  the  nomad.  The  Teutonic  huts  on  the  triumphal 
column  of  Marcus  Aurelius  are  round.  So  too  did  Strabo  describe 
the  dwelling  of  the  Belgae  as  a  6oKoeihr\^,  Helbig  has  shown  the 
primitive  form  of  the  Italian  hut  to  have  been  round.  The  ash- 
urns  from  the  necropolis  of  Alba  Longa  were  obviously  intended 

'  Notes  on  Irish  Arch,  ii,  I,  39,  157. 

•  Archaoiog,  Journal  J  v,  85. 

'  Dr.  Joyce's  Celiie  Romances^  191. 

*  Mrs.  M.  O.  W.  Oliphant's  Life  of  him,  i,  96. 


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sSo  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

to  represent  the  then  round  huts  of  the  living.  [See  an  illus- 
tration in  Canon  Isaac  Taylor's  Origin  of  the  Aryans ^  p.  176  ;  but 
such  huts  were  square  too,  see  the  drawing  of  one  found  near 
Chiusi  in  Daremberg  and  Saglio's  Dictionnaire,  i,  984.  I.  O'N.] 
The  pre-historic  dome-shaped  graves  of  Mycenae,  Menidi,  and 
Orchomenus  were  but  reproductions  of  human  dwellings. 
[The  Chinese  idea  of  the  roundness  of  heaven,  and  the  Greek 
and  Roman  round  temples  are  here  out  of  sight.  I.  O'N.]  Dr. 
Schrader  then  compares  the  Latin  fala,  a  wooden  tower  or  struc- 
ture, with  the  Greek  d6\o(;,  meaning  both  circular  structure  and 
dome-shaped  roof  or  round  temple.*  Lisch  says  the  circular  was 
the  original  form  of  the  German  urns  also ;  and  F.  S.  Hartmann 
says  the  funnel-pit  dwellings  of  Southern  Bavaria  as  a  rule  exhibit 
a  circular  form.* 

To  this  I  shall  add  that  the  priniitiVe  circular  Greek  houses 
had,  according  to  Winckler,*  the  hearth  at  the  cetitte,  the  smoke 
going  out  at  the  top  of  the  conical  roof  Every  Greek  city  had 
its  prytaneum,  in  rotunda  or  ^0X09  form,  sacred  to  Hestia.  The 
holy  hearth  or  fire-focus  of  the  city  was  immediately  under  the 
summit  of  the  vault,  just  as  the  hearth  at  Delphi,  the  central  fire 
common  to  all  the  Hellenes,  was  (soi-disant)  right  beneath  the 
summit  of  the  celestial  vault.  This  Delphin  sanctuary,  the  navel 
of  the  earth,  the  6^<f>aXo^  7%,  had  the  oniphalos-stone  close  beside 
this  hearth-altar  and  sacred  fire  of  Hestia,  the  goddess  who  per- 
sonified the  stability  of  the  Earth.*  The  Roman  Vesta,  who 
paralleled  the  Grecian  Hestia,  likewise  had  rotunda-temples  with 
hemispherical  roofs. 

Numa  Pompilius,  said  Festus  {s,  v.  Rotunda),  seems  to  have  consecrated 
to  Vesta  a  round  temple  (rotundam  or  rutundam  tedem),  because  she  was  the 
same  as  the  Earth,  and  so  he  gave  her  a  temple  in  the  form  of  a  pila.  But 
we  must  not  forget  that  Stata  Mater  was  another  name  for  Vesta ;  who  in 
that  case  may  be  VeSta,  and  another  deity  to  add  to  the  rest  in  Ve-.  As  to 
these  I  state  elsewhere  a  suspected  connexion  with  the  root  of  veho  to  drive, 
and  with  the  town  of  Veji  or  of  the  Veji,  for  it  is  hard  to  accept  Ovid's  Vejovis 
{Fast,  iii,  447)  for  "little  Jupiter." 

It  is  such  facts  as  these  that  throw  the  proper  light  upon  the 
confused  supposition  of  Anaxagoras  (elsewhere  mentioned)  that 

'  Guhl  and  Koner,  p.  48. 

*  Jevons's  Schrader's  PrehisU  Aryan  ArUiq,  (1890)  342,  345,  364  to  366. 

'  Wohnhduscr  der  HtUenen  (1868)  pp.  123  to  132. 

^  Th.  H.  Martin  :  Mythe  de  Hestia  (M^m.  Acad.  Inscr.  xxviii.) 


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MyiAs.] 


The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland, 


281 


primitively  the  pole  coincided  with  the  zenith.  A  supposition 
which  was  agreed  in  by  others  of  the  Ionian  school — Arch^laus, 
Diogenes  of  ApoUonia,  Empedocl^s  and  Democritus.^  One  of  the 
two  most  archaic  temples  discovered  by  Conze,  Deville,  and 
Coquart  at  Samothrace,  the  sanctuary  of  Kabeirian  worship,  was 
round  in  form,  and  covered-in  like  an  odeum  (^Setoi/,  Od^on).* 

>  Stobaeus  EcU  Ph.  i,  16  (pp.  356  to  358,  Huren). 
*  F.  Lenonnant  in  Saglio*s  Diet,  i,  765. 


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282 


The  Night  of  the  Gods. 


{Axis 


23. — Some  other  Towers. 

HERE  are  now  recorded  some  notes  and  observations  upon  a 
variety  of  Towers  which  are  not  round,  but  which  seem  to 
belong  to  the  same  symbolism.  The  square  form  accords  with  the 
Chinese  conception  of  the  earth-symbol  as  square  (the  heavens- 
symbol  being  round) ;  and  it  also  figures  forth  the  sacred  number 
Four  of  the  cardinal  points,  fully  treated  of  above,  p.  157. 

At  Kuicu-Hote,  or  Blue  Town  in  Manchuria  Huc^  mentioned 
a  large  Lamasery  called,  in  common  with  a  more  celebrated  one  in 
the  province  of  Shan-si,  the  Lamasery  of  the  Five  Towers,  from 
its  handsome  square  tower  with  five  turrets  ;  one  very  lofty  in  the 
centre,  and  four  smaller  at  the  angles. 

At  Tali  and  Tali-fu  in  Yunnan,  Mr.  A.  R.  Colquhoun*  mentions 

and  depicts  some  "  Mahomedan 
pagodas  or  minarets."  That  num- 
bered 4  reminds  one  somewhat  of 
the  Egyptian  tat(see  supra).  That 
they  are  pillar-like  tower  struc- 
tures, with  an  archaic  religious 
and  mystic  signification  now  lost, 
^seems  to  be  the  conclusion.  The 
mythological  nightmarist  might 
perhaps  see  in  them  some  parcel 
of  gigantic  glorified  glow-worms. 
The  existence  of  the  Chinese  Wei-Kan  in  the  same  country  (see 
p.  193  supra)  seems  to  exhibit  to  us  the  same  original  idea 
descending  through  two  different  channels,  and  so  evolving  side 
by  side  (whether  due  to  migration  or  not)  very  different  forms 
of  the  same  central  pillar-symbol,  which  are  both  still  produced 
to  this  day.  It  was  in  this  country  too  that  the  Mahomedan 
rebels  were  put  down  and  massacred.  The  aboriginal  {})  Heh 
Miao  tribe  of  this  part  of  S.  W.  China  "stick-in  a  bamboo-pole 
at  the  graves,  with  silk  threads  of  the  five  colours."^ 

The  staged  towers  (zikkurat)  of  Chaldea  and  Assyria  seem  to 

>  Travels,  i,  1 10.  *  Across  Chrysf,  ii,  246,  253. 

3  Ibid,  ii,  372. 


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Myths?^ 


Some  other  Towers. 


283 


'^XK^. 


have  given  the  model  for  the  atesh-gahs 
or  fire-towers  of  the  Persians.  That  at 
Jur  near  Firuzabad  is  91  feet  high  and 
has  been  "restored"  by  M.  Dieulafoy.^ 
The  minaret  of  the  mosque  of  Ibn  TOlCin, 
one  of  the  oldest  Mussulman  edifices,  is 
said  to  resemble  it. 

Dr.  E.  G.  King,  D.D.,»  says  "the 
topmost  stage  in  the  Babylonian  zig- 
gurats  or  temples  denoted  the  pillar 
round  which  the  highest  heaven  or 
sphere  of  the  fixed  stars  revolved."* 
If  so,  it  clearly  represented  the  North  * 
polar  celestial  region.  (Refer  again  to 
the  Tower  at  Jaitze  in  Bosnia  p.  276.) 

In  the  Persian  Rauzat-us-Safa  (p.  141)  Nimrud,  obstinate  in 
his  purpose  of  ascending  to  heaven,  spent  many  years  in  erecting 
a  Tower  which  Was  so  high  that  the  bird  of  imagination  could  not 
reach  its  summit.  (Remember  that  it  is  the  exaggeration  here 
that  falls  short  of  the  mythit  reality.)  Fara'iin  (Pharaoh)  also 
wanted  to  go  up  to  heaven  and  learn  about  the  God  of  M{isa,  and 
to  fight  him  ;  and  he  commanded  Hftm&n  to  erect  him  a  lofty 
castle,  so  lofty  that  its  builditig  took  all  the  time  of  the  9  signs, 
and  anyone  wishing  to  reach  its  summit  had  to  climb  for  a  whole 
year.     (Ibid,  p.  333v) 

One  is  inclined  to  suggest  that  the  marvellous  Tower  in  the 
Shi  Kingf  built  with  a  rapidity  as  if  it  had  been  the  work  of  spirits 
(as  Chu  Hi  said),  and  proper  for  astrological  observations  and  for 
the  searching^out  of  divination  ometts^  should  find  its  proper  place 
among  the  mythic  cosmic  towers. 

In  France,  the  "  Pile  de  Saint-Marc  '^  or  Cinq  Mars,  where  the 
Cher  joins  the  Loire,  is  built  of  bricks  and  is  in  plan  a  square  of 
\2\  feet  to  the  side,  its  height  being  86 J  feet,  as  described  long  ago 
by  La  Sauvag^re  {A^Hquitis), 

That  we  have  here  the  god  Mars  (or  his  Gaulish  double)  seems  probable 
enough  ;  and  his  mantle  descended  to  his  namesake  St.  Martin  (Mars,  Martis), 
as  maybe  seen  especially  from  the  legend  in  the  12th-century  chronicle  of  Jean 
de  J/rtrmoutier  (near  neighbouring  Tours)  which  says  that  Caesar  built  a  tower 
upon  the  rock  of  neighbouring  Amboise,  with  a  great  statue  of  Mars  on  its 

*  VArt  Antique  de  la  Perse,  iv,  79.  *  Akkadian  Genesis  (1888)  p.  24. 

»  See  also  The  Story  of  the  Nations  {Chaldea)  pp.  153,  276.     <  Legge's,  1871,  p.  456. 


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2^4  The  Night  of  tJie  Gods,  {Axis 

summit,  which  statue  fell  in  a  miraculous  storm  raised  by  the  iconoclast 
St.  Martin  to  abolish  the  emblems  of  paganism.  Les  dieux  se  suivent  et  se 
ressemblent.  The  Mar  in  Marmoutier  (moutier  =  monasterium)  is  said  to  be 
Maius,  but  is  nearer  Mars.  The  village  was  once  known  as  Saint-Maars 
(which  confirms  what  I  have  just  stated),  and  also  Saint-Mddard-la-Pile,  which 
gives  us  a  central  divine  name,  like  unto  all  others  in  Me-,  see  pp.  143  seq. 

Near  Sablenceaux  is  a  similar  construction  called  la  Pile- 
Longue  or  Pirelonge,  built  of  rubble  stone  in  a  hard  cement,  18  feet 
square  and  74  feet  high.  There  is  said  to  have  been  another  near 
the  confluence  of  the  Creu2e  and  Vienne  rivers,  at  a  place  called 
Port-de-Pile. 

A  curious  name  belongs  to  the  291  feet  high  tower  of  the 
church  at  Boston  in  Lincolnshire,  built  in  1309.  It  is  called 
"  Boston  Stump,"  and  is  visible  40  miles  off.  (We  all  know  too 
that  another  Boston  is  the  hub  of  the  Universe !) 

As  to  the  nuraghs  or  round-towers  of  Sardinia  (see  p.  277), 
Perrot  and  Chipiez  say  in  UHistoire  de  CArt  that  they  still  exist 
in  very  great  numbers — more  than  3000 — all  over  the  island. 
Their  commonest  form  is  a  circular  chamber,  on  the  ground, 
covered  with  a  conical  vault,  corbelled  not  arched,  like  the  beehive 
tombs  of  Mycenae  and  Orchomenos.  Some  are  more  complicated, 
fusing  3  or  more  single  towers  into  one  colossal  mass.  The  con- 
clusion now  favoured  is  that  they  were  strongholds  against  invaders 
and  pirates.  Their  dates  and  builders  are  unknown,  but  the 
vaulting  may  be  Phoenician.  (Does  nuragh  belong  to  ndr,  fire  ?  see 
p.  208  supra.) 

The  celebrated  Octagonal  Tower  of  the  Eight  Winds  at  Athens 
has  already  been  often  mentioned  (pp.  167,  193  and  244).  It  was 
crowned  by  a  trident-god  or  Triton  who  acted  as  a  weather-cock. 
Spon  identified  this  famous  tower  with  the  horologium  or  dial 
described  by  Vitruvius  (i,  6,  4).  There  was  a  water-clock  within 
it,  and  it  also  served  as  a  dial,  for  horary  lines  are  still  traceable 
below  the  figure  of  a  wind  on  each  face.  When  Stuart  visited  the 
tower  in  the  last  century,  and  still  at  the  time  of  Cell's  tour,  it  was 
used  as  a  chapel  for  dancing  (that  is  rotating,  spinning)  dervishes.* 
To  those  who  follow  the  theories  here  broached,  it  will  not  seem 
strange,  but  accordant,  that  the  connexion  of  this  tower  with  the 
rotating  Universe  should  thus  have  been  perpetuated.  It  was 
dedicated,   as  the  architrave-inscription  still  testifies,  to   Athend 

*  Harrison  and  VerraH's  Ancient  Athens^  p.  203. 


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MytksJ]  Some  other  Towers.  285 

Arch^etis.  Now  apj^-7jyiT7j<;,  apx-ayiTq^,  d/>;^-i77€Tt9  combine 
the  two  central  divine  terms  apx  and  ay  (ayo)  go,  lead  ;  Sanskrit  aj 
drive)  ;  and  'Apx^y^'^^  ^^^^  meant  the  Supreme  goer,  leader  or 
impeller  of  the  Universe.  The  same  adjectival  title  was  also  given 
to  the  great  central  gods  Apollo  and  Askl^pios. 

The  turretted  head  of  Cybel^  may  owe  its  symbo- 
lism to  the  cosmic  tower  and  heavens-palace,  or  "  city  <^f  R    fl    |\ 
the  new  Jerusalem."     Compare  the  Egyptian  present-  5:1  CI  Cl 
ments  of  Neith,  Isis,  and  Nephthys. 

The  tower  in  which  Dana^  was  shut- up,  the  golden  shower  as 
which  Zeus  (  =  Zan  =  Dan)  descended,  the  resultant  heavens-god 
Perseus,  and  the  chest  in  which  Ae  was  shut-up  (see  **  The  Arcana  ") 
are  all  central  and  celestial.  Remember  too  that  if  Zan  =  Dan 
was  Zeus,  Zand  (=Dan6)  wbls  the  Doric  (and  Cretan  ?)  H^re.  And 
I  here  insert  an  important  addition  to  th^  Section  on  "  The  god 
Picus  "  supra,  which  is  taken  from  John  of  Antioch,  who  not  alone 
said  repeatedly  that  Picus  was  the  sanie  as  Zeus — IIa/co?  6  Kai  Zei)?  / 
but  that  some  said  he  was  the  father  of  Perseus :  koX  h-epos  vio^ 
ToO  Yiucov  At09  CLTTO  Aavdr}<;  yevofievo^  qvofuari  Ilepaeif^} 

In  Dr.  Schliemanp's  Report  on  excavations  at  "Troy"  in  1890,*  is  men- 
tioned a  whorl  with  an  inscription  found  in  the  sixth  "  Trojan "  settlement 
Prof.  Sayce  gives  the  inscription  which  is  in  the  Cypriot  syllabary,  as  JJa-ro-pi 
Tv'pi  which,  on  the  supposition  that  it  is  Phrygian,  would  be  "to  Father 
Tuns," 

The  fragments  of  Philo's  version  of  Sanchoniathon,  as  presented 
by  Eusebius,*  have  preserved  to  us  a  perhaps  stupendously  old 
instance  of  the  cosmic  Tower^myth.  The  passage  is  that  Hyps- 
Ouranios  (that  is  the  god  of  the  highest  heavens)  was  said  to 
have  set  up  his  home  at  Turos,  that  is  at  Tyre.  EZra  (fyrjai  rov 
'TyfrOvpdviov  oUrjaai  Tvpov,  which  was  put  into  Latin  by  K.  O. 
Miiller  as  Jam  vero  Hyps  Uranium  in  insula  Tyro  domicilium  suum 
collocasse,  which  would  give  us  a  very  ancient  view  indeed  of  Tory- 
island  (see  p.  267  supra),  (Of  course  there  was  a  Tyre  on  the 
island,  now  Sour  (  =  tsur  ?)  but  the  old  Tyre,  7ra\a^  Tu/oo?,  seems  to 
have  been  on  the  maiqland.)  If  this  be  the  true  etymology  of  Tyre, 
it  disposes  of  all  the  words  in  tyr-  or  rvp-  as  having  a  tower  sense. 
The  Hebrew  name  of  Tyre  was  "^iS-     The  bull  that  bore  Europa 


*  Didot's  Frc^,  Hist.  Grac,  iv,  542,  544. 

*  Published  posthumously  by  Brockhaus,  Leipzig. 

*  Prep,  Ev,  i,  cap.  10.     Didot's  Frag.  Hist.  Grijsc.  iii»  566. 


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286  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

was  called  Tyrian.  The  Thebans  were  poetically,  that  is  archaically, 
called  Tyrians,  and  I  shall  endeavour  later  to  show  that  Thebes 
was  the  heavens-city  df  the  gods,  the  theoi. 

Again  we  may  have  the  tower-axis  god  in  Turrenus  or 
Turrhenus  who  was  the  dux  (drawer  or  leader)  of  the  Lydians  (see 
also  pp.  143,  146).  So  said  Festus  under  the  word  Turrani,  which 
he  cited  from  Verrius  as  an  ordinary  appellation  for  the  Etruscans. 
Note,  by  the  way,  that  we  are  here  working  out  a  very  supreme 
divine  right  indeed  for  the  tyrant,  tyrannus,  or  rvpawo^. 

An  Etruscan  mirror*  shows  a  scene  which  is  called  "  Castor  and  Pollux 
with  Minerva  and  Venus  ; "  but  the  names  over  the  heads  are  Laran,  Aplu, 
Menfra  and  7«ran.  In  this  last  name  of  the  Etruscan  Venus  (according  to 
F.  Lenormant*)  are  we  not  to  see  a  Tower  goddess  ?  Another  mirror  shows 
Casutru,  Pulutuke,  Chaluchasu  (Menfra),  and  Turan.  Another  gives  Turms  or 
Turmus-  (Mercurius  ?)  Laran,  Menfra,  and  Turan.  Another,  Menfra  and 
Turan.»    (See  also  Tur6,  p.  136  supra,) 

A  curious  and  pretty,  though  very  ordinary,  religious  toy  may  be  had  in 
certain  devotional  bookshops.  It  consists  of  an  ornamented  double  hollow 
turret  or  cylinder  of  ivory  which,  when  turned  roupd  ?uq?illy,  opens  and  dis- 
closes a  little  statuette  of  the  Virgin  in  (or  as)  the  turris  ebumea  or  turns 
Davidica  of  the  Softg^  of  Solomon  and  the  Litanies.* 

Under  the  heading  of  the  Number  Twelve  I  have  already 
mentioned  the  Frangrasyan  o(  the  Avesta,  the  Afrftsyftb  of  Firdusi. 
He  was  King  of  TCirftn  for  200  years,  which  (for  me)  at  once  gives 
a  tower-axis  clue,  and  a  probable  etyniology  for  Tiir-An  as  the 
kingdom  of  the  Tower. 

Justi  {Handb,  der  Zendspr.)  deiivos  tftra  from'tamv,  tarv  =  Sanskrit  turv, 
ttirvati.  I  believe  turns  Tvp<ris  has  not  been  previously  carried  beyond  the  Greek. 
Now  Airyu,  T{ira,  and  Sairima  were  grandsons*  of  Yima  the  first 
man-j^od,  thus : 

Yima=p 


I  !  I 

Titfra,  Sairama  or  Selm,  Airyu,  King  of 

King  of  T^rdn.  King  of  Rflm.  Airyana  (Irin). 

The  2  mothers  of  the  triad  had  been  ravished  by  the  demon-serpent  Azhi 
Dahika,  but  were  rescued  by  Thra^taona  when  he  slew  the  monster.     Again 

*  Inghirami,  Monumenii  Eiruski,  *  In  SagUo*s  Diet,  i,  771. 

*  M.  Maurice  Albert,  Casior  et  Pollux^  1883,  p.  134. 

*  HUrolcxicon  (Roma,  1677),  p.  644. 


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MythsJ]  Some  other  Towers.  287 

Irin  V6j  is  the  more  archaic  Airyana  Va$j6  or  Vaija,  the  first  region  created, 
near  by  the  heavens-river  Dditya.*  Airyaman  was  an  old  I ndo- Iranian 
god,  who  is  an  dditya  in  the  Rig  Veda,  and  called  Aryavsxacti,  The  meaning 
of  both  the  resemblant  words  is  in  each  speech  the  same :  brightness, 
light*  Airyaman's  mansion  (nminem)  is  the  mansion  of  the  sky,  the  bright 
dwelling  in  which,  according  to  the  Vedas,  Mitra  Aryaman  and  Varuna  abide. 
In  later  Parsiism  Airyaman  is  the  ized  of  the  heavens.  Here  is  one  of  my 
reasons  (see  p.  24)  for  making  the  original  Aryans  the  bright  star-gods  of  the 
heavens.  In  another,  a  parallel  direction,  it  is  not  at  all  impossible  (I  venture 
to  Submit)  that  we  have  here  too  our  own  English  word  air  (a^p,  aer).  Mt. 
Kaoirisa  or  K6fris  in  trin-Vej,*  then  becomes  the  hollow  (jcoiXor,  root  ku) 
mountain  of  the  heavens,  in  space. 

But  I  want  to  deal  with  T{ira,  the  King  of  TCir^n.  The  mythic 
source  of  the  even  prehistoric  enmity  of  Irftn  and  TOrAn  would  be 
a  war-in-heaven  (of  which  so  many  are  seen  in  the  course  of  this 
Inquiry)  between  the  (tower)  axis-gods  and  the  heavens-gods  at 
large.  And  it  is  very  notable  that  although  the  Turanians,  the 
sons  of  Tiira,  are  to  be  smitten  in  myriads  of  myriads  in  the 
Avesta^  certain  of  them  are  to  be  worshipped,  such  as  Arejangand 
and  Frftrftzi  and  their  holy  men  and  women.*  Thus  they  (or  their 
fravashis,  their  spirits)  were  gods.  The  Dtn&t  Matndgt  Khiradh^ 
preserves  the  legend  that  this  enmity  was  caused  through  the 
killing  of  Airyu  (Atrich)  by  his  two  brothers.  This  is  supposed 
to  have  been  also  related  in  a  lost  Nask  of  the  A  vesta.  AfrAsyib 
the  tower-god  (as  I  say)  was,  after  12  years'  dominion,  beaten, 
and  took  refuge  in  a  cave  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  (in  the 
Skdh  Ndmek) ;  but  in  a  more  archaic  form  of  the  legend  the  cave 
was  an  underground  palace,  the  height  of  looo  men,  with  walls 
of  iron  and  100  columns.  This  is  clearly  one  of  the  many 
variants  of  the  Southern  infernal  Labyrinth  (see  that  heading),  and 
Afr^syib  was  simply  damned  ito  hell  as  a  fallen  god. 

Since  the  above  -was  worked-out,  I  find  that  M.  Jean  Fleury,  reader  at  the 
St  Petersburg  University,  considers  the  Russian  popular  god  Tur  to  be  "  no 
other  than  Perun,  under  a  name  brought  probably  by  the  Turanians."^  But  of 
course  the  word  perun  has  no  etymological  resemblance  whatever  with  tur.  If 
these  theoncsofmine  turn  out  worth  the  trouble  of  publishing,  Tur  will  be  a 
tower-god,  and  Perun  (see  pp.  194,  198  sufird)  a  pillar-^/^?«^  (pierre)  god. 

*  Darmesteter*s  Z,  A,  i,  2,  5,  229. 
«  Z.  ^.  H,  5589. 

*  Ibid,  ii,  67,  71,  189. 

*  Ibid,  ii,  212,  217,  226. 

*  West's  Pahl.  Texts,  iii,  52. 

*  Congris  des  trad.  pop. :  Paris,  1 89 J,  pp.  91,  96, 97  (received  by  me  7th  Feb.  1892). 


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1 


388 


The  Night  of  tfie  Gods. 


\The  exigencies  of  Space  and  Time — in  which  all  things  have  their 
becomings  or  their  non-becomings — have  forced  me  to  hold  over ,  for 
the  present,  the  Section  on  "  The  Tomoye."] 


$  f  ^  t  0 

#  ffi  ^  ^  t 

J  f^f  51 

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289 


The  Axis  and  the   Universe-Tree. 


24.  The  Tree-trunk. 

25.  The  Christmas-tree. 

26.  The  myths  of  Daphn6  and  AgLauros. 

27.  The  Gods  of  the  Druids. 


24.— The  Tree-trunk. 

Two  stedfast  Poles 
twixt  which  this  All  doth  on  the  Ax-tree  move. 

(Drayton,  Barons^  IVarres^  vi,  5.) 

WE  must  now  turn  to  the  Axis  as  the  trunk  of  the  Universe- 
Tree  ;  the  Axe-tree  as  we  might  call  it,  reviving  an  old 
English  alias  for  axle-tree. 

The  Vedic  habitable  Earth  is  Jambu-dwlpa,  the  island  of  the 
tree  Jambu.  Siva  is  the  lord  of  the  Jambu  tree  which  is  in  the 
centre  of  the  delightful  plateau  which  in  the  pur^nas  crowns  the 
height  of  Mount  Meru — the  world-Tree  which  yielded  the  gods 
their  soma,  the  drink  of  immortality.  Its  roots  are  in  the  under- 
world of  Yama ;  it  is  so  high  that  it  casts  the  shadow  on  the 
moon.  Its  tips '  are  in  the  heaven  of  the  gods,  its  trunk  the 
sustaining  Axis  of  the  Universe. 

In  another  character  it  becomes  the  Avestan  Harvisptokhm,^ 
the  Tree  of  all  seed  ;  and  it  is  also  the  Hind{i  Pftrijlta,*  yielding 
all  the  objects  of  desire,  which  we  have  already  seen  (under  the 
heading  of  "The  Spear")  chumed-up  out  of  mid-Ocean.  It  is 
also  the  Tree  of  desires  or  of  ages,  the  kalpa-druma,  kalpa-taru,  or 
kalpa-vrikshas  of  Hindii  myth,  of  which  there  are  four  planted  on 
the  four  buttresses  of  Mount  Meru.  Vriksha  =  tree  in  the 
Rig  Veda. 

*  Darmesteter*s  Zend  Av,  i,  Ixix,  72,  54,  59. 
'  Rel,  Life  and  Thought  in  India,  i,  108,  332. 


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290  T!m  Night  of  tJie  Gods,  [Axis 

Soma  himself  is  Vishnu,  says  the  Satapaika^rMmana^^  Soma  was  Vriira. 
In  the  RigVi'dti  and  its  commentaries  Cayatri,  in  the  shape  of  a  hawk, 
forcibly  carries  off  the  Soma  from  Swar^a,  the  paradise,  the  lordship,  of  Indra, 
and  also  the  supreme  station  of  Vishnu  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Meru,'  But 
here  soma  must  be  a  branch  or  portion  of  the  heavenly  tree  ;  and  the  hawk  and 
soma  are  thus  a  dear  parallel  to  the  dove  and  olive-leaf  of  Genesis  viii,  j  i. 
The  Snktpaika-SrMmana^  presmbed  the  brown- flowering  philguua  plant  as 
being  akin  to  the  sotna- plant  ;  in  the  absence  of  this  the  Syena-hrtra  (falcon- 
rapt)  plant,  or  the  idSra,  or  the  brown  dQb*  (ddrb  a),  or  any  kind  of  yellow  kusa 
plants.  But  Dr.  O,  Schrader*  pronounces  that  all  the  investigations  of  the 
original  terrestriaJ  soma-plant  have  failed  to  produce  ariy  tangible  result. 
This  soma  is  the  Avestan  haoma  which,  like  the  universe-mountain, 
becomes  duplicated  ■  for  there  is  an  earthly  as  well  as  a  heavenly 
haoma;  the  celestial  one  growing-up  in  the  actual  middle  of  the 
sublime  spring  Ardvbtira  in  the  sea  of  air  Vurukasha,  or  the 
Airanya-vaeja^  the  atmosphere,  the  ether  (see  p.  2^y\ 
Haug*  says  that  there  is  an  invocation  in  the  Haoma  yasht  of  the  Avesta 
to  the  holy  haoma-tree  as  the  "imperishable  Pillar  of  life,  amarem  gay^hd 
St  una,"    The  passage  is  not  traced  in  Darmesteter^s  version* 

MC^Xv  the  plant  unknown  to  men,  black  at  the  root  but  wnth 
a  milk-like  flower,  which  Hermes  plucks  up  for  Odusseus  (x,  505} 
IS  clearly  a  type  of  the  world-tree  ;  ^mkos  being  a  pile  raised  in 
the  sea* 

Prof.  Sayce'  has  translated  a  bilingual  hymn  of  Eridu  about 
a  dense  tree  growing  in  a  holy  place  : 

Its  fruits  (or  roots)  of  brilliant  crystal  extend  to  the  liquid  abyss,  its  place 
is  the  central  spot  of  the  earth,  its  foliage  is  a  couch  for  the  goddess  Zikum. 
In  the  heart  of  this  holy  dwelling,  which  casts  a  shade  like  a  forest  into  which 
no  man  has  entered,  resides  the  powerful  Mother  who  passes  athwart  the 
heavens  ;  in  the  midst  is  Tammuz, 

And  Tammuz  =  Attis,  as  to  whom  see  the  Pine  legends,  p.  29S 
infra  (see  also  Attius  Navius  under  "  The  Navel ''). 

On  the  Blacas  vase  we  clearly  have  the  Universe  tree  in  the 
midst  of  the  Cabiric  gods.  Its  roots,  said  F,  Lenormant,*  grow 
down  into  the  region  of  the  hells,  and  its  branches  spread  out  in 
the  upper  region,  where  are  the  deities  of  the  Cabiric  mysteries. 

Not  to  turn  aside  just  at  this  moment  for  other  parallels  to  the 

» 

^  Eggeling's,  ii,  100,  126,  371, 

=  Wilson's  A't^Feda,  1,  33,  54^  241,  *  Eggelmgs,  li,  422. 

*  Dub  means  both  tree  and  oaktree  in  Russian,  see  Ralston 's  able  A'hss,  F^^ik-iak^. 

*  JevQns's  Schrader's  Pr^hisL  Arjuu  Anti^.  {1S90)  3^6,  ^  Essays,  if 7. 

r  A*el  ofAn^t  BabyL  1887,  p.  2jS.  F.  Lenoriaaot.  Grig,  fU  fkhL  ii,  I04.  1 
tiveiset  from  the  French.  ^  In  Saglio's  Dkt^  i,  766. 


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Myths.']  The  Tree-trunk.  291 


Norse  mima-meither  or  to  the  Tree  of  the  golden  apples  of  im- 
mortality guarded  by  the  goddess  Idunn,  or  to  the  similar  apple- 
tree  of  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides — there  is  the  world-ash 
Ygg-drasil,  the  greatest  and  best  of  all  trees,  whose  branches 
spread  all  over  heaven,  while  its  roots  plunge  down  to  hell.  It 
was  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  the  judgement-seat  of  the  gods,^  whose 
chief  abode  and  sanctuary,  is  at  the  Ash  Ygg's  stead  (or  standing 
place)  where  they  hold  their  court  every  day.  Three  of  its  roots 
stretch  across  the  heavens,  and  hold  them  up.*  It  is  white,  like 
the  Avestan  haoma — although  the  whiteness  must  rather  mean 
brightness — and  as  Grimm  pointed  outfit  is  a  near  relation  of  the 
Irmensaiile,  that  highest  universe-column  sustaining  all  things : 
universalis  columna  quasi  sustinens  omnia,  which  is- so  deeply- 
rooted  an  idea  in  German  antiquity. 

The  name  of  the  Yggdrasill  Ash  (Norse  :  askr  ygg-drasils)  must  I  think 
mean  powerful- whirler  ;  as  thus :  Ygg  seems  to  be  the  root  u^  t/Z^our,  as  in 
Latin  vigeo  thrive,  vegeo  arouse,  augeo  increase  ;*  Old  Irish  6g  entire* 
Lithuanian  kugu  grow,  Greek  vyirjs  whole  sound  healthy,  Sanskrit  ugra  very- 
strong,  6jas  strength.  I  suppose  the  name  Ugrian  must  be  thus  connected 
with  Yggdrasill.  It  is  odd  that  this  etymology  brings  ygg  and  z/^?g^etable 
together. 

Drasill,  drasi/s,  seems  to  be  Gothic  thracils^  Scythian  tracilusy  Greek 
rp6xO<os ;  next  to  which  I  set  down  rp6xos  race  racecourse,  and  rpox^s  wheel 
hoop  sphere,  rpox*^  wheel-rut,  and  rpoxa^^s  fleet,  round,  with  rpoxa^la  water- 
wheel  roller  windlass.  It  is  customary  to  refer  all  these  to  Tp€xo>  run,  and  to 
the  root  targA  tragh  to  tug  ;  and  Prof.  Skeat  suggested  a  Teutonic  type 
thragila^  to  take  in  both  English  thrall  and  OHG  drigil  a  slave.  But  I  venture 
to  think  that  the  root  tharh  tark^  to  twist  turn-round,  must  also  be  indicated. 
It  would  thus  be  possible,  disregarding  rpiircoy  to  include  in  the  group  not  alone 
the  w>4^/-meanings  of  the  Greek  words  but  the  Latin  torqueo  turn,  and  the 
Sanskrit  tarkus  a  spindle. 

If  these  etymologies  will  stand  the  strain,  then  Yggdrasill  =  force  -f- 
circular-motion  ;  that  is,  the  energy  of  Nature,  the  almighty  power  that  seemed 
to  turn  the  Universe  and  its  typical  Tree.  This  at  once  makes  it  a  doublet  of 
the  Winged  Oak  of  Zeus  (p.  308  inftcC) ;  and  we  also  thus  see  why  "  Yggdrasill " 
is  incomplete  without  the  word  "  ash."    We  should  say  "  the  Yggdrasill  Ash." 

I  know  the  nine  cycles  of  the  world,  says  the  Vala  or  priestess 
in  the  Volu-Spa,  and  the  gigantic  tree  which  is  in  the  middle  of  the 

'  Bergmann's  Gyl/a  Ginning^  90,  212,  223. 

*  Vigfusson  and  Powell's  reconstructed  VoltupA  (in  Corpus  Poet,  Bor,  ii,  634). 
»  Deutsche  Myth.  759. 

*  Mr.  H.  D.  Darbishire  points  out  that  vyt^ff  can  be  connected  with  vegeo  or  with 
augeo,  but  not  with  both. 

*  E.  R.  Wharton,  Etyma  Latina. 

T   2 


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292  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  \A:xds 

earth,  the  ash  called   Yggdrasill  raising  its  head  to  the  highest 
heavens. 

Adam  of  Bremen  said  in  the  nth  century  that  the  Saxons  vene- 
rated in  their  Irminsul  (as  above)  the  image  of  "the  universal  column 
which  sustains  all  things "  •}  Truncum  quoque  ligni  non  parvae 
magnitudinis  in  altum  erectum  sub  dio  locabant,  patrid  eum  ling^^ 
Irminsul  appellantes,  quod  Latinfe  dicitur  universalis  coluntna 
sustinens  omnia.  It  was  thus  a  big  wooden  post  set  up  in  the 
open  air.  "  As  a  cosmogonic  column  related  to  the  Scandinavian 
Yggdrasill,"  writes  M.  Goblet  d'AIviella,*  "  the  Irminsul  connects 
itself  just  as  well  with  the  tradition  of  the  universal  pillar  as  with 
that  of  the  Tree  of  the  world."  But  the  axis  idea  seems  never  to 
have  crossed  M.  Goblet's  vision.  He  however  approaches  very 
near  to  the  theory  advocated  in  this  Inquiry  (without  however 
coming  into  touch  with  it)  when  he  says  **  the  Chaldeans  must  be 
included  among  the  peoples  who  saw  in  the  universe  a  tree  having 
the  heavens  (le  ciel)  for  top  and  the  earth  for  base  or  trunk."* 
The  trunk  of  course  is  the  beam  or  shaft  of  the  axis.  And  he  adds 
that  Mr.  W.  Mansell*  has  found  gis^  tree,  as  a  name  for  the 
heavens,  on  a  tablet.  Again  M.  Goblet  says*  "the  idea  of 
referring  to  the  form  of  a  tree  the  apparent  structure  of  the 
universe  is  one  of  the  most  natural  reasonings  that  can  pre- 
sent themselves  to  the  mind  of  savages."  But  here  it  is  also 
manifest  that  the  vegetating  idea  is  alone  present  to  the  savant's 
view. 

The  god  Irmin  or  Hirmin  of  the  Westphalian  Saxons  seems  to  have  had  a 
grand  temple  on  the  Eresberg,  afterwards  the  Stadtberg.  It  was  also  called 
the  Mersberg  or  Mons  Martis,  which  indicates  the  usual  confusion  of  the  spear- 
gods  of  two  races.  The  Irmin-sul  or  suul  alias  Hirmin-suul,  Hermen-sul  or 
£rmen-sul  was  his  pillar  at  that  spot,  and  the  reading  Hermen  would  seem  to 
convey  another  confusion  with  another  speargod,  Hermes.  Charlemagne  in  772 
destroyed  the  "  idol "  on  the  Mons  Martis,  which  he  christianised.  This  idol 
seems  to  have  been  both  a  pillar  and  a  statue  placed  on  a  pillar  ;  and  the  statue 
held  in  one  hand  a  rod  or  standard  tipped  with  a  rose  (wheel  ?),  and  in  the  other 
a  balance,  which  would  indicate  a  god  of  Truth.  On  the  breast  was  the  figure  of 
a  bear.  He  was  worshipped  on  horseback  by  the  nobles,  who  rode  several  times 
round  the  statue  {Noel),  Adam  of  Bremen  (i,  6)  said  (as  above)  that  the  statue  was 
of  wood  (which  would  give  it  a  tree-trunk  and  post  origin)  holding  a  flag-standard 


*  Gesta  Hammenhurgensis  Ecclesiat  pontificum^  Hamburg  1706,  I,  vi. 

*  Mig,  des  SymboUSf  1 89 1,  p.  144.  '  Ibid,  p.  187. 

*  Gaz,  Archiol,  1878,  134.  *  Mig,  des  Symboles,  p.  208. 


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Afyths.']  The  Tree-trunk.  293 


in  the  right  hand  and  a  lance  in  the  left.*  There  is  a  confused  German  legend 
which  makes  the  dead  Armimus  become  the  IrminsuX.  Now  one  of  the 
Argonauts  (which  see)  was  Armenios  or  Armenos,  and  he  was  a  native  of  the 
Rose( wheel)- Land.     See  also  the  Roland-Saiilen  at  p.  332  infra. 

The  parish  of  Preston,  Gloucestershire,  is  bounded  on  the  west  by  "  the 
Irmin-street,"  a  Roman  way  which  passes  through  Cirencester.  In  the  parish 
stands  an  ancient  rude  stone  about  four  feet  high  called  "the  Hangman's  stone." 
Rudder*  suggested  that  this  was  a  corruption  of  "  Hereman-stone."  I  take  this 
from  Mr.  E.  S.  Hartland's  truly  valuable  County  Folk-lore*  I  also  find  in  Canon 
Isaac  Taylor's  "  Words  and  Places  "  the  form  "  Ermin  Street."  In  the  French 
department  of  the  Oise  is  Ermenonville  ;  in  the  Puy-de-D6me  is  Herment ;  in 
the  ancient  litus  Saxonicum  near  Caen  is  Hermanville ;  in  Bohemia  are  Herman- 
stadt  (or  Hermanmiestetz  or  Hermanmiestee),  Hermansdorf  (or  Hermsdorf),  and 
Hermanstift  (or  Hermanseifen)  ;  and  in  Transylvania  is  another  Hermannstadt. 
Perhaps  our  Norfolk  parish  of  Irmingland  should  also  be  catalogued. 


[Here,  as  I  have  just  had  to  mention  stone  monuments,  I  must  be 
forgiven  for  inserting  out  of  its  place  some  further  similar  facts,  which 
ought  to  have  gone  with  the  Perrons,  p.  194  supra.  In  the  high- 
way some  200  yards  W.  of  the  church  of  St.  George's,  Gloucester- 
shire "stood  Don  John's  cross,  which  was  a  round  freestone  column 
supported  by  an  octangular  base."  The  "  Dane  John  "  at  Canter- 
bury consists  of  a  similar  monument  on  a  high  mound.  Near  by 
is  a  public-house  which  still  calls  itself  **  Don  Jon  House."  It 
seems  obvious  that  the  real  name  of  both  the  Kentish  and  the 
Gloucester  survivals  is  Don  (or  Dan)  Ion.  Dan,  Don,  Dom,  Hav 
(see  p.  13s  supra)  Zan  and  Zeus  (see  p.  285)  are  of  course  all 
identical,  and  the  lugging-in  of  "  the  Danes "  used  to  be  a  too 
frequent  relaxation  for  our  local  antiquarians  in  the  past  I  shall 
add  as  to  the  Perron  (see  p.  ig^supra)^  which  the  Canterbury  Dan 
Ion  monument  closely  enough  resembles,  that  Perry  Wood,  near  by 
where  I  write,  still  a  place  for  frequent  pleasure-pilgrimage,  may 
have  been  first  so-called  from  a  monument  to  the  god  Perun.  There 
are  other  places  in  England  which  contain  the  name  Perry,  but  the 
list  of  such  places  in  the  American  gazetteers  is  something  quite 
astonishing  in  its  length.] 


It  is  under  the  Willow  that  the  Tioist  saints  obtain  the  elixir  of  immortality. 
In  S.  China  where  it  is  rare  the  fig  takes  its  place.  The  pine  (matsu)  is  a 
symbol  of  long-life  in  Japan.     There  is  as  much  difference  of  opinion  among 

'  See  Krantz  Orig.  Sax,  ii,  9 ;  Fabricius  Orig.  Sax.  6  ;  J.  Grimm,  Detiisclie  Myth, 
pp.  81,  209. 

*  Hist.  Gloucestersh.  1779,  p.  606.  »  Folk-lore  Society  1892,  i,  51. 


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2  94  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


"  sinologues  "  as  to  what  is  the  Chinese  divining-plant  Shi  as  there  is  among  our 
Western  pundits  about  the  sarcostemma-soma.  Both  are  probably  cases  of  the 
gold-silver  shield  over  again  ;  the  fabulous  soma  and  shi  being  materially 
represented  by  differing  substitutes  in  different  places  according  to  the  exigencies 
of  vegetation.*     Look  at  the  (now  Christian)  "  palms  "  on  Palm-Sunday. 


We  can  scarcely  separate  the  whiteness  of  the  haoma  from  the  whiteness  of 
the  birch  (German  birke,  Lithuanian  berzas,  Russian  bereza,  Old-Saxon  br^za, 
Sanskrit  bhiirja,  Ossetic  barse  bars,  Pamir  dialects  furz,  bruj)  to  which  Dr.  O. 
Schrader*  assigns  the  probable  source  of  the  Sanskrit  bhrij,  to  shine.  So  that 
the  shining  white  birch  would  be  meant,  which  thrives  only  in  N.  latitudes.  The 
Latin  name  betulahas  a  common  origin  with  the  Irish  beithe  and  Welsh  bedew. 

The  Canoe  (white)  Birch,  betula  papyracea,  is  commonest  in  America  above 
43°  N.  lat.  The  bark  is  almost  indestructible,  and,  being  therefore  turned  into 
the  Red  Indian's  canoes,  gives  the  tree  its  name  ;  the  wood  of  the  yellow  birch, 
betula  lutea,  is  well-fitted  for  the  under-water  hulls  of  ships.  The  bark  is  used 
as  an  impenetrable  roof,  under  shingles  which  keep  it  down.  The  European 
white  birch,  betula  alba,  has  its  S.  forest-hmit  at  45"  N.  lat.  Its  bark  slowly 
burnt  in  a  furnace  supplies  the  empyreumatic  oil  which  gives  the  perfume  to 
Russian  leather  and  the  stench  to  Russian  ships.  Its  rich  sugary  plentiful  spring 
sap  makes  a  beer,  a  wine,  and  a  vinegar.  The  leaves  of  the  black  birch,  betula 
lenta,  when  dried  make  an  agreeable  tea. 

It  may  have  been  primitively  thought  a  supernatural  fact  that  the  common 
birch  reappears  as  if  by  magic  in  forests  of  other  trees,  European  and  American, 
after  their  destruction  by  fire. 


To  the  soma  (and  beanstalk)  varieties  of  the  Universe-tree  must  be  assigned 
the  vine  of  gold  fashioned  by  Hephaistos  and  presented  to  the  Trojans  by  Zeus.* 
The  golden  vine  of  the  Jerusalem  temple  caused  it  to  be  said  that  the  Jews 
worshipped  Dionusos.*    Both  worships  took  the  symbol  from  a  cosmic  source. 


THE  BEANSTALK.  In  a  TNfew  Guinea  legend,  the  Man 
who  kills  the  Mountain-devil  is  so  strong  that  he  drives  a  spear 
through  the  earth  and  rock  into  the  heart  of  the  cave  where  he 
and  his  mother  live.  Not  far  from  this  cave  was  a  tree  so  huge 
that  it  was  twice  the  size  of  any  other  tree  in  the  forest.  Even  the 
head  of  the  giant  devil  Tauni-kapi-kapi  (=  Man-eating  man) 
would  not  reach  to  the  top  of  it.  The  Man  and  his  mother  ascend 
to  the  treetop,  and  from  there  he  eventually  kills  the  giant'  In 
another  legend  the  king  of  the  Eagles  lives  with  his  human  wife 

*  Plath,  Relig.  aitd  Cultus  Alt.  Chin,  i,  96 ;  Edkin's  Relig.  in  Chi.  15 ;  Legge's 
ShU'ICingy  144. 

'  Jevons's  Schrader*s  Prehist.  Aryan  Antiq.  271.  '  Myth  Rit.  and  Rel.  ii,  180. 

*  Josephus  Ani.  /ud.  xv,  11,  3.  *  H.  H.  Romilly's  Afy  Verandah,  p.  120. 


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Afyths.^  The  Tree-trunk,  295 


and  son  in  the  top  of  a  tall  tree,  and  the  king  of  the  Snakes 
attafks  them,  coils  himself  tightly  round  the  tree,  and  bit  by  bit 
begins  to  break  it  down.  The  tree  begins  to  shake  and  crack,  but 
the  Eagle  king  says  "  he  cannot  pull  down  my  tree,"  spits  at  the 
snake,  and  the  tree  is  immediately  renewed.^ 

(The  legends  in  the  book  from  which  these  two  are  quoted  are  obviously 
very  much  edited ;  and  the  last  suggests  some  missionary  tale  told  from  Genesis 
to  the  Papuan.) 

Jack  going  up  a  ladder  to  the  abode  of  the  Giant  who  killed 
his  father  is  an  analogous  incident  to  this  New  Guinea  myth.  In 
a  Wyandot  tale  a  child's  father  is  killed  and  eaten  by  a  Bear,  and 
he  in  turn  kills  the  destroyer.  He  then  climbs  up  into  a  tree,  and 
blows  upon  it,  whereupon  the  tree  grows  and  stretches  up  and  up 
till  it  raises  him  to  the  heavens.  In  it  he  builds  huts,  and  finally 
breaks  off  the  lower  end  [separation  of  heavens  and  earth  see  pp.  38, 
87  suprd\  so  that  no  one  now  can  get  to  the  heavens  that  way. 
The  sun  too  gets  caught  in  this  tree,  which  is  just  the  leading 
mythical  fact  of  the  sun  on  or  in  the  Universe-tree  which  we  have 
at  p.  325  infra?  The  Dog-Rib  Indians  say  that  Chapewee  stuck 
up  in  the  ground  a  piece  of  wood  which  became  a  firtree  and  grew 
with  amazing  rapidity  until  its  top  reached  the  heavens.  Chapewee 
pursued  a  squirrel  up  the  tree  until  he  reached  the  stars,  and  found 
there  a  fine  plain  and  a  beaten  Way,  The  sun  here  too  gets 
caught  in  a  snare  set  for  the  squirrel.* 

One  of  Jack's  pretty-coloured  Beans  (therefore  a  phaseolus), 
got  from  the  butcher  in  exchange  for  the  cow,  grows  and  grows 
until  next  morning  it  has  grown  right  up  into  the  heavens.  When 
Jack  goes  up,  he  steals  the  hen  that  lays  the  golden  Eggs,  and 
being  pursued  down  the  Beanstalk  by  the  Giant  that  killed  his 
father,  he  is  just  in  time  to  cut  the  ladder  through,  [again  the 
separation  of  heavens  and  earth]  and  the  Giant  tumbles  down  head 
first  into  the  well. 

De  Gubernatis  has  pointed  out*  that  "the  kidney-bean  is 
evidently  intended  by  the  fruit  of  fruits  which,  according  to  the 
Mahd'bhdrata  (iii,  13,  423),  the  merciful  man  receives  in  exchange 
for  the  little  black  cow,  krishnadhenukd,  given  to  the  priest, 
phal^n&m  phalam  a^noti  tadi  dattvd. 

»  H.  H.  Romilly's  My  Verandah,  p.  Ii8. 

'  Le  Jeune  (1637)  in  Relations  desjisuiies  (Quebec  1858)  on  Tyler's  E.  If.  Af, 

'  Richardson,  FranklitCs  Expedition  (1828)  in  Tylor. 

^  ZooL  Myth,  1872,  i,  244. 


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296  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

In  the  sixth  of  Porchat's  Contes  Merveilleux  a  youngster  climbs 
for  a  nest  in  an  elmtree,  and  the  never-ending  ascent  takes  him  up 
near  heaven.  Out  of  the  nest  appears  a  beautiful  fair-haired 
maiden,  either  the  sun  (as  before)  or  the  moon.  Among  the 
American  Mandans  the  tribe  climb  up  a  vine  from  the  underworld 
to  the  Earth,  but  when  half  have  ascended  the  vine  breaks  with  the 
weight^  In  the  Malay  island  of  Celebes  Kasimbaha  clambers 
up  the  rattans  into  the  heavens  and  dwells  among  the  gods.*  The 
Mbocobis  of  Paraguay  send  their  dead  up  to  the  heavens  by  the 
tree  Llagdigua  which  joins  heavens  and  Earth.'  The  arrowroot  and 
another  plant — ^here  we  have  a  duality,  the  dual  pillar — pushed-up  the 
Samoan  heavens;  and  the  "heavens-pushing-place"  is  still  shown.* 
There  are  other  ways  up  to  the  skies  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
"  the  rank  Spear-grass,  a  rope  or  thong,  a  spider's  web,  a  ladder  of 
iron  or  gold,  a  column  of  smoke,  or  the  rainbow."  So  wrote  Mr. 
E.  B.  Tylor  in  the  pages  I  am  using  ;*  but  the  rainbow  is  a  separate 
conception  altogether. 

M.  A.  R^ville*^  says  the  New  Zealand  separator  (see  pp.  38,  87 
supra)  was  a  divine  tree  the  Father  of  forests.  This  idea  of  separa- 
tion by  pushing  asunder  would  of  course  in  such  a  case  also  include 
a  holding  together;  just  as  in  the  RigVeda  the  axle  is  said 
"  powerfully  to  separate  heavens  and  earth  "  ;  whereas  it  not  alone 
separates  but  connects  the  wheels  which  are  understood  in  the 
metaphor.     (See  "  The  Wheel.") 

The  Russian  "Beanstalk"  stories  do  not  mention  Ivan  (or 
Jack)  but  only  the  Old  Couple  (who  are  in  other  tales  Ivan's 
parents).  The  old  man  goes  up  a  cabbage-stalk  in  one  version, 
and  takes  up  the  old  woman  in  a  sack,  but  lets  her  fall  when  near 
the  top,  and  she  is  dashed  to  pieces.  In  another,  she  is  killed  by 
a  bundle  which  falls  from  the  hands  of  the  old  man  who  is  up  a 
peastalk.  In  yet  another,  she  falls  off  the  old  man's  back,  as  he 
is  carrying  her  up  a  beanstalk.  In  another,  the  peastalk  dis- 
appears as  soon  as  the  old  man  is  up  above,  where  he  encounters 
a  seven-eyed  goat  (=  seven-starred  Bear!),  and  to  get  down  again 
he  makes  a  cord  of  the  cobwebs  "  that  float  in  the  summer  air," 
and  secures  it  "  to  the  edge  of  heaven." 

*  Lewis  and  Clarke,  Expeditim  (Philadelphia,  1814),  p.  139  (in  Tylor). 
'  Schirren,  Wandersagen  (Riga,  1856)  p.  126  (in  Tylor). 

5  Humboldt  and  Bonpland,  ii,  276  (in  Tylor).  *  Turner's  Sanioa^  198. 

*  Early  HisL  Mankind,  2nd  ed.  p.  356.  «  Rel.  des  non-civilish,  ii,  28. 


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Myths.']  The  Tree-trunk.  297 

In  3ome  other  Russian  variants,  the  Old  Couple  both  climb  up 
with  their  young  granddaughter,  the  bine  breaks  and  down  they  fall. 
"  Since  that  time,"  says  the  story, "  no  one  has  set  foot  in  that  heavenly 
izbushka  (cottage) ;  so  no  one  knows  anything  more  about  it."^ 
Here  we  clearly  have  again  that  most  archaic  and  widespread  idea 
of  the  separation  of  a  once-joined  heavens  and  Earth.' 

The  sacredness  of  the  Bean,  that  is  the  celestial  connexion  of  the 
plant,  IS  to  be  detected  in  a  very  early  stage  of  civilisation  in  the 
worship  of  Cardea,  p.  160  supra.  In  the  legend  of  D^m^ter's  visit  to 
Trisaul^s  and  Damithal^s,'  the  mother  of  the  gods,  who  was  also  the 
Earth-mother,  tabooed  the  bean.  (Pomegranates,  which  were  un- 
doubtedly phallic,  were  also  taboo  in  the  worship  of  D^m6t^r.*) 


The  mystic  tree  appears  unexpectedly  in  the  Ainu  legends 
recently  published  by  Mr.  Batchelor.*  There  we  have  a  metal 
pine-tree  which  grew  at  the  head  of  the  Island,  that  is  the  World, 
against  which  the  swords  of  the  gods  broke  and  bent  when  they 
attacked  it.  It  recurs  in  another  Ainu  legend  of  a  visit  to  the 
under-world,  where  it  has  a  bear-goddess,  and  is  worshipped,  and 
divine  symbols  are  set  up  to  it.  We  have  also  a  mountain-top,  an 
immense  serpent,  and  a  long  tunnel-like  cavern  in  this  legend.* 

In  the  KalevaLa  the  far  outspreading  branches  of  the  universe- 
Oak  shut  out  the  light  from  the  Northland,  and  Pikku  Mies  the 
pigmy-god,  in  answer  to  the  intercession  of  Waino,  quickly  grows, 
like  the  Indian  Vishnu-Vamana,  to  a  gigantic  size  and  fells  the 
tree  with  three  strokes  of  his  copper  hatchet.  The  oak  is  in  this 
"  Epic  "  called  pun  YamaLa  =  tree  of  thunder-land.' 

Skade,  the  daughter  of  the  giant  Thjasse,  bore  many  sons  to 
Odinn.  She  was  also  called  the  iron  pine-tree's  daughter,  and  she 
sprang  from  the  rocks  that  rib  the  sea.® 

The  Babylonian  (or  Akkadian)  tree  was  a  dark  pine  which 
grew  in  Eridu.  Its  crown  was  crystal  white  and  spread  towards 
the  vault   above  ;   its   station  was  the   centre  of  the   Earth ;   its 

*  Ralston's  Russ,  Folk-tales,  298. 

^  I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned  for  referring  the  reader  to  an  article  of  my  own  in  the 
National  Observer  of  3  Oct.  1891,  on  "Jack  and  the  Beanstalk." 

^  Patisanias  viii,  15,  i.  '*  F.  Lenormant  in  Saglio's  Diet,  Antiq,  i,  1028. 

*  Trans.  As.  Soc.  Jap.  xvi,  134. 

*  Mr.  B.  H.  Chamberlain  in  Memoirs  of  Tdkyd  University  1887,  pp.  23,  24. 

^  J.  M.  Crawford's  /Calevala  (1889)  ''ix,  xxxi.  ^  Inglinga  Saga,  ch.  ix. 


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298  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 


shrine  was  the  couch  or  throne  of  the  mighty  mother  Zikum.* 
The  s{^bbas  too  have  a  tree  of  life  called  Setarvan,  the  shader,  and 
a  milk-tree  of  Paradise,  the  mahziun,  which  is  prayed-to.  Its 
human  breasts  suckle  the  babes  that  die  young.* 

The  pine  under  which  he  mutilated  himself  was  sacred  to  Attis, 
and  it  was  at  the  Vernal  equinox  that  the  tree  was  cut  [to  obtain 
the  turpentine,  perhaps  by  "  bleeding,"'  which  was  thus  a  sacred 
simulacrum].  An  image  or  idol  of  Attis  hung  on  the  sacred  pine ; 
and  the  tree  must  also  have  been  cut-down,  unless  indeed  it  was  a 
pot-plant,  for  it  was  carried  with  great  pomp  into  the  sanctuary  of 
the  Mother  of  the  gods,  and  adorned  with  woollen  ribbons  and  spring 
violets.    This  was  the  feast  called  "  Arbor  intrat "  on  22nd  March.* 

The  weighty  Spear,  Sopu,  of  I^s6n  (Jason),  son  of  Ais6n,  when 
hardened  by  the  magic  drug  of  MeDea,  presents  another  parallel 
to  the  Ainu  tree.  "  Idas  the  son  of  Aphareus  in  furious  anger 
hacks  the  butt  end  thereof  with  his  mighty  sword,  but  the  edge 
leaps  from  it  like  a  hammer  from  an  anvil,  beaten  back."  And  his 
comrades  cannot  bend  that  spear  ever  so  little.*  The  serpent 
Lad6n  who,  in  the  place  of  AtLas,  guarded  the  apples  of  the  triad 
of  the  Hesperides,  is,  when  slain  by  H^rakl^s,  found  by  the 
Argonauts  fallen  against  the  trunk  of  the  apple-tree  f  and  the 
three  become,  Hesper^  a  poplar,  Eruth^is  an  elm,  and  Aigl6  a 
willow  with  sacred  trunk.  All  this  is  Universe-tree  myth.  And 
we  get  the  same  motif  in  the  legend  told  by  Phineus  in  the 
Argonautika  (ii,  476)  of  the  father  of  Paraibios  who  drew  down  a 
curse  by  his  disregard  of  the  '*  Woodman,  spare  that  tree  "  of  a 
Hamadryad.  He  "  cut  the  trunk  of  an  oak  that  had  grown  up 
with  her " — so  is  irpi^vov  hpvo<;  fjKLKo^  rendered  (479)  ;  but  I 
cannot  refrain  from  a  reminder  that  eXt/wy  is  the  Arcadian  willow 
as  well  as  the  Great  Bear.  There  is  an  alternative  reading  for 
Spuo?  too,  which  is  Aao?  (Wellauer  in  loc).  We  should  thus,  if  one 
slight  emendation  were  permissible  here,  have  the  northern 
Arcadian  willow  of  Zeus  as  the  tree-trunk  on  which  the  Universe 
turns,  Conipare  the  Winged  Oak,  p.  308.  Of  course  it  is 
always  here  maintained  that  mythic  Arcadia  is  the  highest  heavens 
(see  "The  Arcana"). 

'  Records  oj  fasi,  ix,  146. 

2  ReHg,  des  Soubbas^  pp.  6,  41,  27  ;  Norberg,  Codex  NasaraeuSy  iii,  68. 

•**  F.  Lenormant  in  Saglio's  Diet.  Antiq,  i,  1689. 

*  Jbid,  1682,  1685 ;  Arnobius  Adv.  §en/.  v,  5  to  7 ;  Cl^m.  Alex.  Protrcpt,  ii,  15,  16. 

*  Ar^pnauttka,  iii,  1246.  •  Jbid,  iv,  1401,  1427. 


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Myths.']  The   Tree-trunk.  299 


The  eight-cornered  sacrificial  post  or  stake  (see  also  pp.  193,  171) 
belongs  to  Vishnu  in  the  Satapatha-brdhmana}  It  is  raised  up 
solemnly  (for  fixing  in  the  ground)  with  the  text :  "  With  thy  crest 
thou  hast  touched  the  Sky,  with  thy  middle  thou  hast  filled  the 
Air,  with  thy  foot  thou  hast  steadied  the  Earth."  //  seerns  impos- 
sibte  to  deny  that  this  has  reference  to  the  Universe-aXis^  of  which 
the  post  is  thus  manifestly  the  symbol. 

When  the  priest  had  to  cut  down  a  tree  for  the  sacrificial  post, 
he  was  ordered  by  the  Satapatha-brdhmana*  to  place  a  blade  of 
darbha-grass  between  the  axe  and  the  tree,  saying:  **0h 
grass,  shield  it ! "  He  then  struck,  saying :  "  Oh  axe,  hurt 
not!"  where  we  have  again  the  "Oh  Woodman,  spare  that 
tree ! "  of  the  drawingroom  ditty.  It  was  an  ostrich's-head-in- 
the-sand  kind  of  conscience-salve ;  and  so,  when  the  priest  was 
pounding  and  pestling  the  soma-twigs  for  their  juice,  he  was*  to  think 
in  his  mind  of  his  enemy,  and  say  :  "  With  this  stone  I  strike  not 
thee,  but "  so-and-so.  "  But  if  he  hate  no  one,"  goes  on  the  guileless 
gfuide,  "  he  may  even  think  of  a  straw,  and  so  no  guilt  is  incurred." 

ErusiChthon,  son  of  Kekrops  and  AgLauros  (or  son  of  Triops 
or  Triopas)  profaned  with  the  hatchet  a  "  forest  primeval "  sacred  to 
D6m^t6r,  each  tree  of  which  was  the  home  of  a  Dryad  (see  "The 
Gods  of  the  Druids"  infra).  D^m^t^r  (=  Ceres)  plagued  him 
therefore  with  the  ravenous  hunger  of  famine,  and  he  devoured  his 
own  limbs  (but  see  also  "  The  Arcana  "  infrd).^  The  Hindfi  priest 
doubtless  feared  some  similar  vengeance. 

As  to  "Woodman,  spare  that  tree,"  there  was  a  pious  old- 
woman's  wish  as  far  back  as  Cicero's  time  :*  that  the  pinewood 
post  cut  in  the  forest  of  P^lion  had  not  fallen  to  the  earth.  Cicero 
took  his  quotation  from  Ennius :  Utinam  ne  in  nemore  Pelio 
securibus  |  caesa  cecidisset  abiegna  ad  terram  trabes ;  and  that 
again  seems  to  have  been  lifted  from  the  Medea  of  Euripides : 
Mi;S'  hf  vdirauri  Ilr)\iov  ireaelv  iroTe  TfirjOeura  irevicrj. 

I  think  too  that  this  Yfipa  or  sacrificial  post  which  is  hymned 
in  the  RigVeda  as  typical  of  the  tree  or  lord  of  the  wood  (Vanas- 
pati),*  and  is  well-clad  and  hung  with  wreaths,'  must  clearly  be 

'  Eggeling*s,  ii,  162,  167,  171,  143.  ^  lOid.  ii,  164.  •  Ibid,  ii,  243. 

"*  F.  Lenonnant  in  Saglio's  Diet,  i,  1039.  *  £>e  not.  Deor.  iii,  3a 

'  It  is  no  harm  here  to  draw  attention  to  the  pretty  old  fable  about  the  trees  electing 
a  king,  which  is  put  into  Jotham's  mouth  m  Judges  ix.  See  also  the  New  2^ealand  Father 
of  Forests,  p.  296.  ^  Wilson's  Big  Veda,  iii,  4. 


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300  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 


placed  in  the  same  categoiy  as  the  Ashdrih,  which  I  have  already 
mentioned  at  p.  195,  and  which  must  says  Prof.  Robertson  Smith, 
have  been  either  a  living  tree  or  a  tree-like  post,  planted  in  the 
ground  like  an  English  Maypole  [or  a  French  arbre  de  Libert^]. 
An  Assyrian  monument  from  Khorsdb^d,  figured  by  Botta, 
Layard,  and  Rawlinson^  shows  an  ornamental  pole  planted  beside 
a  portable  altar.  Priests  stand  by  it  engaged  in  worship  and 
touch  the  pole  with  their  hands,  or  perhaps  anoint  it  with  some 
liquid  substance.*  If  this  were  blood  it  would  give  our  barber's 
pole ;  and  if  oil,  would  be  the  "  greasy  pole "  to  which  I  have 
already  referred  (p.  191  supra).  Prof.  Smith  also  suggests  that  in 
early  times  tree-worship  had  such  a  vogue  in  Canaan  that  the  sacred 
tree,  or  the  pole  its  surrogate,  had  come  to  be  viewed  as  a  general 
symbol  of  deity  which  might  fittingly  stand  beside  the  altar  of  any 
god.*  The  Universe-tree  and  Universe-axis  theories  here  urged  go 
farther  than  this  on  the  same  lines. 

The  Ashdr^h,  a  post  or  pole  more  or  less  enriched  with  orna- 
ments, formed,  said  F.  Lenormant,  the  consecrated  simulacrum  of 
the  Chthonian  goddess  of  fecundity  and  life  in  the  Canaan ite 
worship  of  Palestine.*  But  he  added  that  the  artificial  Assyrian 
Ash^r^h  (which  like  Sheruyah  his  female  seems  named  from  As- 
shur)  was  a  figment  of  the  Cosmic  tree,  which  was  also  the  tree  of  life. 

On  the  Babylonian  "  black  stone  of  Lord  Aberdeen,"  of  the 
time  of  king  Asarhaddon,  the  Universe-tree  or  Tree-of-Life 
appears,  like  any  other  idol,  in  a  naos  surmounted  by  a  cidaris  or 
upright  tiara,  while  the  god  Asshur  hovers  above.* 

M.  Goblet  d'Alviella  remarks  that  the  Hebrews  in  spite  of  the 
objurgations  of  the  prophets  of  Yahveh  never  gave  over  the 
making  and  planting  of  ash^rlm  from  their  establishment  in 
Canaan*  down  to  king  Josias  who  burnt  the  ashdr^  which 
Manasseh,  the  worshipper  of  the  hosts  of  the  heavens,  made  and 
set  up  in  the  very  temple  of  Jerusalem.'  He  adds  that  the 
ashfir^h,  being  made  as  well  as  planted,  must  have  been  artificial 
and  conventional  like  our  May.*   (See  "  The  Christmas  Tree  "  infra.) 

The  Tibetans,  says  Prof  Rhys  Davids,  are  fond  of  putting  up 

'  Monarchies^  ii,  37.  *  Helig.  of  Semites,  171,  175.  •   Jind.  172. 

*  Orig.  de  thist.  i,  89,  570. 

*  Fergusson  :  Ninev.  and  Persep.  298.     F.  Lenormant,  Orig.  i,  88. 

*  ludgest  iii,  7  (Ash^roth  ;  but  Ash^rtm  in  Exod.  xxxiv,  13). 

'  ii  Kings,  xxiii,  6 ;  xxi,  3,  7.  *  Afig.  des  Symboles,  1891,  142. 


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Alyihs.']  The  Tree-trunk.  zo\ 

what  they  call  Trees  of  the  Law,  that  is  lofty  flagstuffs  with  silk 
flags  upon  them  emblazoned  with  that  mystic  charm  of  wonder- 
working power :  Om  mani  padme  hum.^  As  my  theory  here  is 
that  the  Dharma,  or  Law,  of  Buddhism  is  the  revolution  of  the 
Universe,  these  Trees  of  the  Law  must  be  symbols  of  the  Axis.  I 
would  especially  press  upon  the  reader's  attention  that  here  we 
have  a  Buddhist  Tree  of  the  Law  as  well  as  a  Wheel  of  the  Law  ; 
compare  also  the  Egyptian  flagstaffs  of  p.  252. 

Among  the  Aboriginal  (?)  tribes  of  S.  W.  China,  the  Kau-erh 
Lung-kia  "after  the  springtime  stick  a  small  tree  in  a  field, 
which  they  call  the  demon(?)-stick.  There  is  a  gathering  round 
this  stick  and  a  dance,"  and  men  make  their  engagements  with 
women.  The  Yao-Miao  tribe  bind  their  dead  to  a  tree  with 
withies,  and  the  Heh  Miao  "stick  in  a  bamboo-pole  at  the  graves, 
with  silk  threads  of  the  five  colours."* 


THE  BARBER'S  POLE.  The  mention  of  the  sacrificial 
post  at  p.  300  leads  me  on  here  to  speak  further  of  the  Barber's 
pole.     Brand*  said  that 

It  was  grasped  by  the  patient  "  to  accelerate  the  discharge  of  the  blood " 
(which  is  insufficient  on  the  face  of  it),  and  that  "  as  the  pole  was  thus  liable  to  be 
stained,  it  was  painted  red,  and  when  not  in  use  was  suspended  (?)  outside  the 
door  with  the  white  linen  swathing-bands  twisted  around  it.  In  later  times, 
when  surgery  was  dissociated  from  the  tonsorial  art "  [the  pomposity  is  as  un- 
grateful as  the  rest]  "  the  pole  was  painted  red  and  white,  or  black  and  white,  or 
even  with  red  white  and  blue  lines  winding  about  it,  emblematic  of  its  former 
use." 

Now  anyone  is  at  liberty  unhesitatingly  to  declare  that  Brand  was 
here  plainly  and  roundly  inventing,  or  retailing  invention. 

The  theory  that  this  pole  had  its  true  and  only  archaic  origin 
in  the  sacrificial,  in  the  human-sacrificial  post  is  the  over- 
mastering one.  If  the  barber's  patient  grasped  the  pole,  then  he 
had  been  originally  a  victim.  The  painting  of  a  red  colour  is  to 
be  seen  all  over  India,  where,  since  the  Brahminical  (and  perhaps 
the  Buddhistic)  abolition  of  blood-sacrifice,  everything  is  ritualis- 
tically  smeared  with  a  red  paint,  instead  of  being  sprinkled  with 
blood.*  It  is  a  pious  fraud,  the  outcome  of  a  religious  evolution. 
Remember,  too,  that  there  is  a  never-ending  mass  of  evidence 

^  Buddhism  (i88o),  p.  2IO. 

'  A.  R.  Colquhoun*s  Across  Chrysi^  ii,  369  to  373. 

*  Pop,  Antiq,  112. 

^  See  also  p.  332  infra  as  to  the  red  tree. 


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I 


302  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Arts 

about  the  sacrifice  of  the  victim's  hair  (where  the  barber  comes  in 
again)  and  of  his  or  of  her  blood,  as  a  palliation  of  the  sacrifice  of 
the  victim's  life.  All  this  was  piacular  pious  fraud  ;  self-deception 
and  cheating  the  god,  both.  And  the  barber's  trade  of  haircutting 
and  of  bleeding,  and  his  combination  of  the  two,  therefore  prove 
him  to  have  been  originally  a  butcher-priest  at  the  sacrificial  post. 
The  medically  insane  and  murderous  practice  of  bleeding  the  sick 
(and  the  whole  too)  never  had  any  other  than  this  expiatory  and 
— well,  barberous  origin. 

Brand  further  reported  that  in  the  House  of  Lords,  on  17th  July  1797, 
Lord  Thurlow  cited  a  statute  which  then  required  both  barbers  and  surgeons  to 
use  poles  (of  course  as  a  public  security  and  convenience),  the  former  painting 
them  with  blue  and  black  stripes.  Naturally,  when  they  once  got  to  fency- 
painting,  colour  was  likely  to  become  a  matter  of  taste. 

In  China  the  greater  number  of  the  barbers  fix  a  vertical  red 
bar  over  their  stove.^ 


THE  MA  Y-^POLE.  Somewhat  must  here  be  said  of  the 
May-pole,  which  should  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  May 
or  artificial  tree  (see  p.  336).  Reference  is  also  requested  to  the 
Egyptian  poles  mentioned  under  the  head  of  "The  Dokana," 
p.  252  supra. 

The  great  shaft  or  principal  'M.^.y  pole  of  London  used  to  be  set 
up  in  Cornhill,  before  the  parish  church  of  St.  Andrew,  thence 
called  Undershaft*  Philip  Stubs,  in  his  Anatomie  of  Abuses^  1595, 
said  men  women  and  children  then  went  to  the  woods  and  groves, 
and  spent  all  the  night  in  pleasant  pastimes  [which  we  may  perhaps 
admit  depended  somewhat  on  the  weather],  returning  in  the  morn- 
ing with  birch  boughs  and  branches  of  trees. 

But  their  chiefest  jewel  they  bring  from  thence  is  the  Maie-pole,  which  they 
bring  home  with  great  veneration,  as  thus— they  have  twentie  or  fourtie  yoake  of 
oxen,  every  oxe  having  a  sweete  nosegaie  of  flowers  tied  to  the  tip  of  his  homes, 
and  these  oxen  drawe  home  the  May-poale,  their  stinking  idol  rather  [wrote  this 
rabid  puritan],  Which  they  covered  all  over  with  flowers  and  hearbes,  bound 
round  with  strings  from  the  top  to  the  bottome,  and  sometimes  it  was  painted 
with  variable  colours,  having  two  or  three  hundred  men  women  and  children 
following  it  with  great  devotion."* 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  thing  here  is  the  use  of  the 
words,  "  veneration,"  "  devotion,"  and  "  idol."  [See  also  the  post  on 
p.  194,  and  the  greasy  pole,  pp.  191,  300.] 

*  De  Groot,  Files  ctEmoui^  i,  171. 

3  Stow's  Survey^  p.  80 ;  Strutt,  p.  352,  '  Strutt,  p.  352. 


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Myths.']  The  Tree-irunk.  303 

It  is  for  me  noteworthy  that  the  Universe-tree  and  the  Spear- 
axis  gods  seem  to  be  brought  together  in  the  Welsh  myth  of 
Peredur  P^adyr  Hir  (see  p.  198  supra),  the  Spearsman  of  the 
long  PaL  "Gwalchmei  (  =  falcon  of  the  May- tree)  approached 
Peredur,  threw  his  arms  round  his  neck,  and  they  went  away 
joyous  and  united  towards  Arthur  .  .  .  Peredur  took  the  same 
garments  as  Gwalchmei,  and  then  they  repaired,  hand  in  hand,  to 
Arthur  and  saluted  him."^ 


THE  REED.  There  is  an  ever  recurrent  necessity  throughout 
this  Inquiry  to  make  mention  from  varying  points  of  view  of  the 
symbolism  of  The  Reed,  which  I  consider  as  cosmic  and  axial.  I 
therefore  insert  here,  next  the  Pole,  some  ritualistic  particulars 
about  it. 

M€7aXiy,  the  Grand,  was  a  title  of  D^m^t^r  as  the  Great  Mother ; 
and  the  Megalesia,  Roman  games  and  feasts  in  honour  of  Cybeld 
(4th  to  loth  April),  owed  their  name  to  this  adjectival  title.  At 
this  period  was  commemorated  the  bringing  to  Rome  of  the  Stone 
(idol)  of  D^m^t^r  from  Pessinunte  (Ileo-o-^i/oi)?  on  the  frontiers  of 
Phrygia),  and  on  previous  days,  from  the  22nd  to  the  27  th  of  March, 
was  held  at  Rome  the  Phrygian  feast  of  Cybel^  and  Attis.  Before 
that  again,  on  15  th  March,  was  the  feast  of  Anna  Perenna  and  the 
cannophori  or  Reed-carrying  procession,  composed  of  confrater- 
nities of  men,  and  of  women.  F.  Lenormant  made  some  excellent 
remarks  on  these  Reeds.'  He  with  much  insight  picks-up  out  of 
Herodian*  the  statement  that  the  Phrygians  celebrated  the  similar 
feast  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Gallos,  and  that  the  reeds  were  an 
allusion  to  the  Moses-myth  of  the  infant  Attis,  exposed  on  those 
banks,  and  rescued  by  Cybel^.  Nothing  could  be,  for  me,  more 
direct  and  genuine  and  archaic  in  Cosmic  mythology,  if  he  had  only 
added  on  the  fact  that  the  river  Gallos  must  be  viewed,  like  the 
Chinese  Hoang-ho  or  Yellow  River,  as  a  terrestrial  continuation  of 
the  Milky  Way  or  heavens-river.  Thus  Galatia  where  the  Gallos 
flowed,  and  the  Galli  priests  of  Cybel6,  and  the  TaKa^la^  kukKo^,  via 
lactea,  or  Milky  Way  all  belong  to  a  similar  nominalism,  as  will 
be  more  fully  shown  under  "  The  Heavens-River,"  where  it  will  be 
found  that  from  Japanese  origins  I  have  quite  independently 
argued  down  to  a  similar  conclusion  with  F.  Lenormant — a  coin- 

*  Loth*s  Mabinogion^  ii,  74,  75. 

'  In  Saglio*s  DicL  Antiq.  "  Cybeia,"  (i,  1685,  1688).  »  Hist,  i,  u,  7. 


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3^4  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

cidence  at  which  anyone  might  well  be  self-pleased.  F.  Lenormant 
further  signalled  on  the  mystic  Cista  found  in  the  ruins  of  the 
M^tr6on  at  Ostia  (see  "  The  Arcana  "  infra),  the  self-same  celestial 
reeds  together  with  the  lion  of  Cybel^,  and  the  heads  of  Idaean 
Zeus  and  of  Attis. 

The  great  Reed  on  the  great  North  Mountain  of  the  Navajo 
Indians  is  the  Universe-tree.  The  mountain  grows  higher  and 
higher,  and  so  does  the  reed,  all  that  is  alive  takes  refuge  there  from 
the  Deluge.  When  the  reed  grows  to  the  floor  of  the  fourth  world 
creation  is  saved  by  creeping  through  a  hole  (the  Navel).^ 


A  poem  of  the  Japanese  Kozhiki  also  gives  us  one  of  the  other 
obvious  references  to  the  world-tree,  hitherto  undetected  -} 
"As  for  the  branches  of  the  five-hundred-fold  true  tsuki-tree  ...  the 
uppermost  branch  has  the  Sky  above  it,  the  middle  branch  has  the  East  above 
it,  the  lowest  branch  has  the  Earth  above  it.  A  leaf  from  the  tip  of  the  upper- 
most branch  falls  against  the  middle  branch  ;  a  leaf  from  the  tip  of  the  middle 
branch  falls  against  the  lowest  branch  ;  a  leaf  from  the  tip  of  the  lowest  ladling 
.  .  .  .  all  [goes]  curdle-curdle.  Ah,  this  is  very  awe-inspiring." 
This  expression  curdle-curdle,  koworo-koworo,  is  said  by  the  com- 
mentators to  be  akin  to  the  name  of  the  island  Onogoro  (ono-koro, 
from  koru  to  become  solid)  or  self-curdled,  which  Izanagi  made 
with  his  spear,^  and  to  which  early  reference  is  made  in  this  Inquiry 
(p.  31).  It  is  just  possible  that  we  have  here  traces  of  a  variant  in 
the  original  creation-myth,  and  a  recognition  of  the  identity  of  the 
Spear  and  the  World-Tree — one  of  the  points  I  contend  for. 

The  Chinese  K'iung-tree,  the  tree  of  life,  is  10,000  cubits  high, 
and  300  arm-spans  round.  Eating  its  blossom  confers  immortality. 
Its  name,  k*iung  is  a  convertible  term  with  Yii,  the  jadestone,  and 
it  grows  upon  the  heavens-mountain  Kw'^n  Lun.*  The  Tong 
tree  of  the  T^oists  also  grows  on  Kw'^nlun  at  the  Gate  of 
heaven.^  This  mystic  plant  is,  again,  the  princess  Parizad^'s 
Singing  Tree  in  Galland's  Arabian  Nights,  "  whose  leaves  are  so 
many  mouths,  which  neverendingly  give  forth  a  harmonious  concert 
of  assorted  voices "  ;  where  we  clearly  have  an  allusion  to  the 
Music  of  the  Spheres. 

>  Amer.  Antiquarian  (1883),  208  (W.  Matthews,  "Navajo  Mythology  "). 
'  Mr.  B.  H.  Chamberlain's  valuable  version,  pp.  321  to  323. 
»  lbi(L  p.  19. 

*  Mayers  :  Manual^  99. 

*  Paradise  Found,  274  (citing  LUkcn*8  Traditianen,  72). 


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Myths.']  The  Tree-irunk.  3^5 

The  Chinese  Sh^n-t'ao,  or  Peachtree  of  the  gods,  grows  near 
the  palace  of  Si  Wang-Mu,  the  West  Queen-mother.  Its  fruit  of 
immortality  ripens  once  in  3,000  years,  and  gives  3,000  years  of  life 
to  the  eater.  Tung-Fang  So  (Jap.  T6bdsaku)  stole  three  (compare 
H^rakl^  and  the  Hesperid^s-apples),  and  lived  9,000  years.  Si 
Wang-Mu  brought  seven  peaches  when  she  visited  the  Emperor 
Wu  TL  The  Japanese  god  Izanag^  repels  the  Eight  thunder-gods 
in  the  infernal  regions  by  throwing  at  them  the  Three  fruits  of  the 
Peachtree  that  grew  at  the  entrance  of  the  level  Pass  of  the  Dark 
World  (Yomo  tsu  hira-saka  no  saka-moto  ....  sono  Saka- 
moto nam  momo  no  mi  wo  mi,  etc.)'  The  t'ao  (peach)  has  a 
doublet  in  the  k'iung-tree  just  mentioned.  This  tree  is  also  the 
special  property  of  Si  Wang-Mu,*  who  bestows  its  leaves  and 
blossoms. 

[Si  Wang'Mu  and  her  consort  Tung  Wang-Kung,  the  East 
King'lordy  bear  a  strange  resemblance  to  Izananii  and  Izanagi^ 
having  been  the  first  created  and  creating  results  of  the  powers  of 
Nature  in  their  primary  process  of  development?] 

There  is  a  tradition  among  the  SQbbas  (or  Sabaeans)  of  Mesopotamia  that 
a  leaf  once  fell  from  the  heavens  with  a  divine  message.*  Here  we  seem  to  get 
behind  the  Sibylline  leaves.  The  leaves  of  the  tulasi  basil  (see  p.  317  infra\ 
are  still  offered  to  Vishnu  in  India.*  The  Egyptian  dead  were  crowned  with 
leaves.^  The  leaves  of  the  pipal  {ficus  reltgiosoy  see  p.  317  in/ra\  somewhat 
resemble  those  of  the  poplar,  and  quiver  ceaselessly  like  those  of  the  aspen.*  Is 
this  perpetual  life-motion  and  whispering  of  the  leaves  one  reason  towards  its 
holiness  ?  No  wood  but  white  poplar  was  used  in  burning  sacrifices  to  Zeus  at 
Olympia  in  EHs.^  The  virtue  of  the  leaves  comes  clearly  out  in  the  Apoca- 
lypsey  xxii,  z  :  "  And  on  this  side  of  the  River  and  on  that  was  a  Tree  of 
Life  bearing  twelve  crops  of  fruit  (see  p.  176  supra\  yielding  its  fruit  every 
iTionth.  And  the  leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations."  Here 
we  have  the  heavens-river  besides,  and  the  number  twelve  is  clearly  celestially 
zodiacal 

In  the  Persian  Moslem  legends,  Joseph  (Yusuf),  in  his  dream,  fixes  his 
staff  in  the  ground  (see  "  The  Rod  and  Rhabdomancy,"  supra\  and  his  brothers 
stick-in  theirs  around  his  ;  whereupon  Yusuf  beholds  his  staff  growing  skyward, 

*  Yo-mo  =  night  side ;  hira-saka  « level  descent,  i,e,  the  top,  the  *  col  *  of  the 
mountain-pass  ;  saka-moto  «  descent-beginning ;  mi  «  fruit ;  mi  —  three.  {Kozhiki^ 
i,  9.     Mr.  Chamberlain*^,  p.  37.) 

*  Kozhiki^  P-  19.  '  Se«  Mayers,  Mcmual^  pp.  210,  J78,  100. 

*  Siouffi  Relig.  <Us  Soubbas^  1880,  p.  7. 

*  W\s&Ooi^QXi-CyxmvcMi!^%  HinuUayas  and  Indian  Plains y  547,  218. 

*  Peremhru  ch.  xviii  and  xx.  Papyrus  of  Osor-aaou.  Th.  DevAria,  Cat,  MSS. 
1881,  135.  '  Pausanias,  v,  13  and  14. 

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and  budding  forth  branches  so  bright  that  they  light  up  the  interval  between  the 
East  and  the  West.  Then  fruits  rained  from  the  branches  on  the  heads  of  the 
brethren,  who  worshipped  him  while  they  eat  them.*  Twelve  is,  of  course,  the 
zodiacal  number  of  staves  here  too ;  and  see  the  similar  stone-legend,  p.  273 
supra^  and  also  "The  Number  Twelve,"  p.  173. 

A  tree  with  ten  branches  is  a  frequent  incised  ornament  on  archaic  "Trojan" 
vases,  whorls,  and  balls.*  Here  we  have  a  decimal  zodiac  instead  of  a  duo- 
decimal. 


OSIRIS.  To  the  world-tree  myths  must,  I  think,  be  attached 
a  leading  portion  of  the  story  of  Osiris,  the  coffin  containing  whose 
dead  body  is  found  in  the  trunk  of  a  tree  which  had  grown  round  it. 
This  tree  too,  like  the  spear  of  Izanagi  (pp.  36,  224  supra\  becomes 
the  column  which  sustains  the  roof  of  a  royal  palace.  In  the 
papyrus  of  Har-si-6si,  Osiris  is  alluded  to  as  "  the  One  in  the  Tree"' 
The  erica-tree  of  Osiris  reappears  in  Mas;pero's  Egyptian  tale 
of  the  Two  Brothers  (Papyrus  of  Orbiney  in  Brit  Mus.)  where 
Bitiou  places  his  heart  in  an  acacia-tree.  At  Hermopolis-Magna 
Thoth  was  represented  by  a  cocoa-palm  6q  cubits;  high.  The 
"coffin-tree"  of  Osiris  is  shown  by  a  Theban  bas-relief  from 
Medinet-abu  (Th.  Dev^ria)  to  be  at  the  water's  edge.*  Al- 
though called  an  erica  at  times,  it  seems  to  be  a  tamarisk  also  ;* 
and  in  its  branches  perches  the  bennu-bird.  This  is  a  further 
identification  of  the  Osiris-tree  with  the  Universertree.  The  vine 
was  also  sacred  to  Osiris.  Prof  Robertson  Smith  compares  thp 
sacred  erica  which  grew  round  the  dead  body  of  Osiris  to  the 
Hebrew  ashdrih.  The  erica  was  anointed  (with  niyrrh)  like  thp 
ash^r^h.* 

The  wooden  image  of  Artemis  Orthia,  also  called  Lygod^ma 
(willow-bound)  by  Pausanias,  because  found  in  a  willow,  is  clearly 
another  similar  legend  to  that  of  Osiris.  Myrrha,  Mvp/wr,  the 
daughter  of  Kinuras  King  of  Cyprus  (and  father  of  Addnis  in 
Ovid)  was  when  pregnant  of  Ad6nis  changed  into  a  myrrh-tree 
from  which  the  child  was  delivered,  said  Hyginus  {Fab.  58,  242, 
270),  by  a  blow  of  a  hatchet,  or  else  the  tree  split-open  of  itself  in  the 
tenth  month,  and  the  god  came  forth.®  I  cannot  just  now  lay  l^ands 
on  the  authority  for  the  enclosure  of  the  body  of  Attis  in  his  (and 

*  Rauzat'US'Safa^  203.  *  Schliemann*s  Ilios,  367,  383,  413. 
»  Th.  Dev^ria,  Cat,  MSS.  1881,  6S.  '•  Pierret :  Diet,  57,  534- 

*  A'e/ig.  0/ Semites,  75.  «  /^etig.  0/ Semites,  i8«9,  p.  87. 


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Cybel6*s)  pine-tree  until  the  spring.  Zakhariah  the  prophet  is  said 
by  the  moslems  to  have  taken  refuge  from  his  persecutors  in  the 
hollow  of  a  tree.^  In  Irish  myth  Diarmait  and  Grania  in  their  flight 
to  the  south  from  Finn  are  helped  by  Angus  to  a  refuge  in  the 
wood  of  the  Two  Sally-trees,  "  which  is  now  called  Limerick "  ;* 
and  Diarmait  is  further  counselled  by  Angus  to  go  not  into  a  tree 
having  only  one  trunk.  [See  also  the  remarks  on  seeking 
sanctuary  by  grasping  the  sacred  tree,  and  its  connexion  with 
the  children's  game  of  tig-touch-wood,  under  the  heading  of  '*  The 
Navels."] 

Are  we  to  see  a  glinunering  of  some  similar  idea  to  the  tree-Osiris  in  Yahveh's 
changing  of  Lot's  wife  into  a  pillar  (of  salt)  see  p.  239  supra. 

This  perennial  Universe-myth  springs  up  again  in  Merlin's  Oak  : 
Then  in  one  moment  she  put  forth  the  charm 
Of  woven  paces  and  of  waving  hands  ; 
And  in  the  hollow  Oak  he  lay  as  dead, 
And  lost  to  life  and  use  and  name  and  fame.   (Tennyson's  Vivien.) 

And  previously,  in  Merlin's  mystic  words  : 

Far  other  was  the  song  that  once  I  heard 

By  this  huge  Oak,  sung  nearly  where  we  sit ; 

For  here  we  met — some  ten  or  Twelve  of  us. 
The  Twelve  here  are  doubtless  (see  p.  306)  the  celestial  or  zodiacal  twelve 
round  the  Axis  and  the  Table  of  the  heavens. 

The  temple  of  Jupiter  on  the  capitol  at  Rome  replaced,  so 
tradition  said,  tliie  sacred  oak  of  Romulus.*  An  Etruscan  in- 
scription showjed  the  antiquity  of  another  oak  on  the  Vatican  hill.* 
In  456  B.C.  Liyy  (iii,  25)  records  that  a  consul  solemnly  took  an 
oak  to  witness,  as  though  it  had  been,  a  god,  the  broken  faith  of 
the  neighbouring  warlike  -^iqui — et  haec  sacrata  quercus  et 
quidquid  deorum  est  audiant  foedus  a  vobis  ruptum.  Apollo- 
doros  (iy,  9,  16)  makes  Ath^n^  attach  to  the  prow  of  the  Argo 
a  piece  of  the  prophetic  oak  of  D6d6na  ;  but  the  earlier  and  - 
weightier  legend  given  by  Apollonios  of  Rhodes*  makes  this 
oaken  beam  from  D6d6na  the  middle  of  the  keel,  and  it  cries  out 
and  prophecies  in  the  gloom.  That  this  pak  is  the  Universe-tree 
and  this  keel  a  metaphor  of  the  Axis  scarcely,  admits  of  contest. 

'  Masnavj  i  Ma'navi    of  JaU|u-'d-d!n  Riimt,  foupder  of  the  Mevlevl  dervishes 

(1887),  p.  74. 

•  Joyce**  CtlHc  Romances,  292,  295,  296. 

»  Uvy,  i,  10.  *  Pliny,  Hist,  Nat,  xvi,  87. 

*  Argonaut  ka  (Wellauer),  iv,  583. 

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The  Russian  abbot  Daniel  in  A.D.  1106  described  the  Oak  of 
Mamre  near  Mount  Hebron^  as  standing  on  a  high  mountain. 
Beneath  it  '*  the  holy  Trinity  appeared  to  the  patriarch  Abraham, 
and  did  eat  with  him.  The  Trinity  also  showed  Abraham  the 
spring."  Jews  and  Christians  were  naturally  at  variance  as  to  the 
site  of  this  oak  or  terebinth.* 

In  the  sacred  hymns  of  the  Finns,  the  relation  of  the  origin  of 
the  Birch  and  also  that  of  the  origin  of  the  Oak  both  mention 
that  "  its  head  strove  towards  the  sky,  its  boughs  spread  outwards 
into  space."*  A  variant  says  "  its  head  seized  the  sky,  its  branches 
touched  the  clouds,"  "  an  oak  had  sprouted,  a  tree-of-god  had  taken 
root." 

For  the  Oak  and  the  Ash  and  the  bonny  Birchen  tree, 

They're  all  a-growin'  gi*een  in  the  North  countree.    {Sailor's  Shanty.) 

Herrick's  Holy-Oke  or  Gospel-Tree,  under  which  "thou  yerely 
go'st  procession,"  existed  at  many  points  of  the  boundaries  of 
Wolverhampton  ;  and  the  gospel  was  read  under  them  by  the 
priest  who  made  the  parish  perambulations.*  A  clear  survival  and 
but  slight  transformation  of  a  pagan  ritual. 

The  Willow  of  Zeus  upon  which  the  Universe  turns  (p.. 298 
supra)y  and  the  etymology  of  YggDrasill  as  turning-force  (p.  291) 
lead  us  at  once  to  what  we  shall  have  again  under  the  heading  of 
*'  The  Winged  Sphere,"  that  is  the  apologue  of  the  Winged  Oak, 
over  which  Zeus  threw  a  magnificent  Veil,  on  which  were  repre- 
sented the  stars,  the  earth,  and  the  Universe-Ocean.  It  was  a 
myth  taken  by  Pherecydes  of  Syros  (circ.  600  B.C.)  from  Phoenician 
literature  and  legends,*  which  Philo  Byblius^  testified  to  his  having 
studied.  The  Universe  was  thus  conceived-of  as  an  immense  tree, 
furnished  with  wings  to  indicate  its  rotary  motion  ;  its  roots 
plunging  into  the  abyss,  and  its  extended  branches  upholding  the 
display  of  the  Veil  of  the  firmament. 

The  Maruts — Wind-gods  or  Universe-^/7/-gods — dwell  in  the 
Ashvattha  (that  is  the  horsed)  tree,  which  is  another  version  of  the 
winged-oak  of  Zeus.      One  flies   round  with  wings,  the  other  is 

>  Pal.  Pilgrims*  Text.  Soc.  1888,  p.  43.  «  Jbid.  1889,  p.  33. 

•  Magic  Son^  of  the  Finns  in  Folk-Lore^  i,  337,  339,  342. 

•  Shaw's  Hist  Stag,  ii,  165. 

»  F.  Lenormant,  Orig.  de  PHist.  i,  96,  568,  569.  Goblet  d*Alviella,  Mig.  des 
SymboUs^  167. 

•  Didot's  Frag,  Hist.  Grccc.  iii,  572. 


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Afyths."]  The  Tree-trunk,  309 


drawn  round  by  horses.*     And  in  all  these  cases  it  seems  clear  as 

day  that  the  trunk  is  the  axe,  the  beam,  on  which  the  Cosmos 

turns. 

Lazarus  Geiger  said  the  ashvattha  was  a  name  for  the  banana,  and  that  its 

use  for  producing  fire  by  twirling  and  friction  is  in  the  Vedas.*    This  quite 

accords  with  what  has  just  been  said  about  the  turning,  and  also  with  what  will 

be  seen  later  under  the  head  of  "  The  Fire- Wheel." 

Here  seems  to  be  the  place  to  mention  Zeus  Tropaios,  or  the 
reverting.  The  sense  of  the  title  is  connected  with  the  rotation, 
the  return,  of  the  heavens  and  of  the  heavenly  annual  phenomena. 
To  say  that  it  merely  means  the  **  turn  and  flee  "  of  the  enemy  is 
base  rubbish.  We  may  even  conjoin  the  turning  Universe  tree 
and  the  word  tropaion  by  considering  that  this  trophy  (see  p.  205 
supra)  was  first  (as  on  a  medal  of  Severus)  some  lopped  tree  on 
the  battle-field,*  or  else  a  tall  stone — where  again  we  have  the 
close  connexion  of  the  stock  and  the  stone  as  sacred  monuments. 
Remember  that  the  same  root  and  sense  gives  us  the  rpoin/col 
KVKkoiy  the  tropic,  the  returning,  circles  of  the  solstices.  And 
note  well  for  future  use  that  the  root  is  tark^  which  also  gives 
us  torqueo  and  Tarquinius.  It  must  of  course  be  added  that  the 
sacred  belief  was  that  the  trophy-tree  held  a  god,*  and  this  again 
is  another  immediate  link  with  the  winged  oak  of  Zeus. 

According  to  Thrasybulus  (in  Scholiast  on  Iliad  xvi,  233) 
Deukali6n  prophesied  in  an  oak.*  Zeus,  according  to  Hesiod,* 
dwelt  in  the  trunk  of  the  oak-tree.  L^t6,  that  is  Latona,  grasped 
the  trunk  of  a  palm-tree  as  she  brought  forth  Apollo  and  Artemis, 
the  children  of  Zeus.  This  was  in  the  floating  island  of  D6I0S, 
which  I  have  paralleled  with  the  Japanese  Onogoro  (p.  31).  So 
Homer,  but  Tacitus  later  laid  the  venue  in  Ephesus,  "  leaning 
against  an  olive-tree."'  Dionusos  was  adored  in  Boi6tia  as 
endendros,®  "in  the  tree,"  as  well  as  Zeus.  Dionusos,  Artemis 
and  Helena  of  Troy  were  all  called  dendrites  or  tree-beings ; 
the  last  however  (in  a  variant)  because  of  her  hanging  herself 
or  being  hanged  to  a  tree  (see  p.  326  infra).     Many  of  the  con- 

>  RigVeda^  i,  65,  i.     Prof.  Max  Miiller's  Vedu  Hymns,  1891,  329. 
'  Development  Human  Race^  1880,  p.  100. 

'  See  also  Mneid  xi,  5 :  Ingentem  quercum  decisis  undique  ramis  |  Constituit 
tumulo,  fiilgentiaque  induit  arana. 

''  E.  Saglio  in  bis  grand  Diet,  Antiq,  i,  361. 

*  Taylor's  Pausanias,  ii,  202.  •  Preller,  i,  98.  '  Annals^  iii,  61. 

*  Hesycbius,  sub  Toce. 


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sorts  of  Dionusos  had  tree  or  plant-names,  such  as  Althaia 
(marsh-mallow)  and  Karua ;  and  Artemis  was  called  Karuatis 
from  the  walnut-tree.  Under  that  title  she  was  worshipped  in 
Laconia.^  Artemis  S6teira  (saviour)  of  Boia  was  a  myrtle.* 
The  temple  of  the  Ephesian  Artemis  was  in  an  elm-bole, 
irpkyAfi^  ipl  TTTeXif)^,  or  an  oak-trunk,  <fnfyuv  inrb  irpifivxp.  Pausanias 
gave  her,  as  A.  Kedreatis,  a  mighty  cedar  at  Orchomenos. 

In  an  Indian  story  which  has  been  called  Punchkin,*  Seven 
princesses  are  starved  by  their  stepmother,  but  a  tree  grows-up  out 
of  their  dead  mother's  grave,  laden  with  fruits  for  their  relief  The 
German  Cinderella  is  helped  by  the  White  Bird  that  dwells  on 
the  hazel-tree  growing  out  of  her  mother's  grave.*  A  similar 
legend  is  familiar  to  ourselves  in  the  ballad  of  Lord  Lovell,  and  an 
explanation  is  offered  on  p.  323  infra. 


The  trees  out  of  which  come  men  are  endless.  Out  of  the 
Omumborombonga  tree  of  the  Bushmen  came  the  first  man  and 
woman,*  and  also  oxen. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  avoid  comparing  the  Deukali6n  and 
the  DaiDalos  stone  arid  tree  myths  of  the  creation  of  mankind. 
Deukali6n  and  Purfa  throw  stones  which  become  men  and  women, 
animated  stoned.  DaiDalos  invents  statues  {a^aXfjudray  or  makes 
animated  statues  which  see  and  walk,  otherwise  open  their  eyes 
and  move  their  arms  and  legs.  In  the  Daidala  annual  festivals  in 
Boeotia  (Boidtia)  fourteen  (=7  >^  2)  human  figures  were  cut  out 
of  oaks  chosen  by  bird-divination  (Pausanias  ix,  6),  arid  burnt  in 
sacrifice  to  Zeus  and  H^ra.  Every  sixty  years  (a  chronological 
cyclic  period)  there  was  a  jubilee  of  these  Ddidala.  The  ancients, 
added  Pausanias,  called  wooden  statues  Daidalian.  Apart  from 
the  reminiscence  of  a  (disused)  human  sacrifice  here  noticeable,  we 
must  see  a  manifest  up-cropping  of  the  similar  Norse  myth  in 
which  the  sons  of  Bor  make  man  out  of  an  Ash  and  woralari  dut  of 
an  Elm. 

*  Saglio's  Dicf.  Antiq,  i,  615  (F.  Lenormant),  931. 

*  Pausanias  iii,  10,  70  ;  viii,  13,  2 ;  iii,  22,  12.     Botticher,  Baumcult^  p.  451. 

»  Does  Ihinchkin  here  go  with  Thumbling,  and  mean  Little-fist ;  punch  being  =» 
Hindi  panch,  five  (fingers)?  This  would  instantly  make  clear  the  fine  old  phrase 
*  punch  his  head  !  *  Although  Prof.  Skeat  takes  a  more  classic  view»  *  fives  *  for  the  fists 
is  a  common  term  of  the  prize-ring. 

*  Miss  Frcre*s  Old  Deccan  Days^  3, 4  ;  Grimm,  No.  21. 

»  Lang's  Myth,  Rit,  and  Rel,  i,  176.  «  Apoll.  Bibl,  iu,  15,  8,  la 


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Alyths^  The  Tree-trunk,  3" 


The  Italiotes  also  made  men  issue  from  the  bursting  trunks  of 
oaks:  Gensque  virClm  truncis  et  duro  robore  nata.^  Various 
legends  on  the  subject  may  be  seen  in  the  Mythology  of  Plants  by 
Count  A.  de  Gubernatis.  One  of  the  earliest  we  can  now  come 
by  is  perhaps  that  in  Hesiod*  where  Father  Zeus  made  the  third 
race  of  bronze  men,  endowed  with  speech,  who  issued  from  the 
trunks  of  ashtrees,  terrible  and  robust. 

In  Saxony  and  Thuringia  folk-lore  still  makes  children 
(especially  girls)  "grow  on  the  tree."*  Our  own  nursery-lore 
instructs  enquiring  childhood  that  babies  are  found  under  goose- 
berry-bushes. The  Arab  geographers  Bakui,  Masudi,  and  Ibn- 
Tofeili  recounted  that  the  waqwiq  talking-tree,  in  the  Waqwaq 
islands  at  the  Eastern  extremity  of  the  known  Earth,  bore  young 
women  instead  of  fruit  at  the  tips  of  its  branches.*  (See  also 
the  Subban  milk-tree  p.  298  supra.)  And  we  must  not  forget 
that  Gautama  the  Buddha  was  born  beneath  the  Sala  (as6ka) 
trees  in  the  garden  of  Lumbini.*  All  this  seems  to  bear  the 
mystic  interpretation  that  man  is — like  everything  else  in  the 
Universe — a  denizen  of  the  Universe-tree ;  and  it  also  enlightens 
the  return  of  the  dead  to  their  origin  by  hanging  their  bodies  on 
trees  (see  p.  327).  But  of  course  we  must  give  a  large  share  in 
arguing  this  question  of  the  birth  of  men  from  trees  to  the  in- 
dubitable natural-history  fact  that  pristine  "men"  were  tree- 
climbers  and  tree-dwellers.  This  is  an  almighty  consideration  in 
the  argument 

Sir  Monier  Williams  points  out*  that  in  some  passages  of  the 
RigVeda  (x,  58,  7 ;  16,  3)  there  are  dim  hints  of  a  belief  in  the 
possible  migration  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead  into  plants,  trees,  and 
streams  ;  and  he  adds  that  in  the  Hindfi  theory  of  metempsychosis 
all  trees  and  plants  are  conscious  beings,  having  as  distinct  per- 
sonalities and  souls  of  their  own  as  gods  demons  men  and  animals 
have.'  Plants  and  trees  speak  in  the  archaic  sacred  Nihongi, 
Japan-Chronicles  of  the  8th  century.  See  too  what  has  been  said 
(p.  301)  about  returning  the  dead  corpse  to  the  tree  among  the 
Yao-Miao. 

*  y£n.  viii,  315,  and  Censorinus  De  die  natali,  4. 

•  Works  and  Days,  v.  143.  •  Bergmann's  Gyl/a  Ginning^  85,  194,  346. 

*  Alex.  V.  Humboldt,  Examen  critique,  i,  52. 

'  Fergusson's  Tru  and  Serpent  Worship,  p.  131  (sec  pL  Ixv,  fig.  3). 

•  ReL  Thought  and  Life  in  India,  i,  281, 

'  Manu,  i,  49.     Rel,  Thought  and  Life  in  India,  \,  331. 


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Lady  Wilde  mentions  *  the  ancient  superstition  that  the  first 
man  was  created  from  an  alder-tree,  and  the  first  woman  from  the 
mountain-ash/'^  In  an  Irish  fairy-tale,  a  cow  goes  regularly  and 
stands  under  an  old  hawthom-tree,  out  of  the  trunk  of  which  a 
little  wizened  old  woman  comes  and  milks  her,  and  goes  back  into 
the  tree  again.^  In  another  tale  it  is  a  little  witch- woman  all  in  red 
that  does  the  same  thing. 

An  Ainu  who  lost  his  way  found  "  a  large  leafy  oak*  He  lay 
down  crying  beneath  it*  Then  he  fell  asleep.  He  dreamt  that 
there  was  a  large  house  "  [proved  by  another  tale  mentioned  under 
"The  Enchanted  Horse/'  in  Vol.  l\.  to  be  the  heavens-palace], 
"A  divine  woman  came  out  of  it,  and  spoke  thus  ,  ,  .  *  I  am 
this  Tree,  which  is  made  the  chief  of  trees  by  heaven  (?)/  Then  he 
worshipped  the  Tree/'^  Of  a  childless  Ainu  couple  it  is  told  that 
**one  day,  as  the  wife  went  to  the  mountains  to  fetch  wood,  she 
found  a  little  boy  crying  beside  a  tree" — just  our  firm  nursery 
faith.  In  yet  another  tale,  which  I  think  I  have  already  men- 
tioned, an  Ainu  falls  asleep  "at  the  foot  of  a  pine-tree  of  extra- 
ordinary size  and  height  To  him  then  in  a  dream  appeared  the 
goddess  of  the  tree/*  This  pine  is  near  the  entrance  of  an 
immense  cavern,  at  the  far-end  of  which  is  a  gleam  of  light,  where 
there  is  the  issue  to  another  world  (see  the  Japanese  Pass  of  Yomo, 
p.  305  supra).  He  found  this  cavern  by  pursuing  a  Bear  up  a 
mountain  until  it  took  refuge  in  a  hole  in  the  ground  which  led 
into  this  Cosmic  cavern.  After  his  vision  of  the  goddess  he  wakes, 
offers-up  thanks  to  the  Tree,  and  sets-up  divine  symbols  in  its 
honour.     The  Bear  turns  out  to  be  a  goddess  of  the  underworld 

The  palm  was  an  attribute  of  Apollo,  who  was  born  at  the  foot 
of  one  as  above,  p,  309.  It  is  named  with  the  laurel,  and  at  times 
with  the  olive,  whereat  legends  also  place  the  birth  of  Latonas' 
twins.*  It  is  figured  side  by  side  with  a  tripod.  The  Andaman 
islanders  say  the  Earth  rests  on  a  palm-tree/  Mahomet's 
favourite  fruits  were  fresh  dates  and  water-nielons»  and  he  ate 
them  both  together.  '*  Honour/*  said  he,  "  your  paternal  aunt 
the  date-palm,  for  she  was  created  of  the  earth  of  which  Adam 

'  Amt.  Legends  &/ Irelnnd^  tSSS,  p.  202. 

*  Ihid,  pp.  113,  171, 

*  Mr,  Cbamberlain's  j^jW  ^p/j6*/fl/fj,  188S,  pp*  25^  36,  41. 

*  k.  SagUo :  Diii.  dis  Aittiq.  i,  35S. 

*  E,  H.  Man,  Ahfi^,  i?f  Am*isn;QHSf  S6, 


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AfyiAs.]  The  Tree-trunk,  3^3 

was  formed."^  The  name  of  Semitic  god  Baal-Tamar  means  Lord 
of  the  Palm-tree,  and  the  Jews  carried  green  branches  on  the  feast 
of  Cabanuelas.*  I  need  do  no  more  than  just  mention  our  own 
Palm-Sunday. 

The  early  Christian  symbol  of  the  date-Palm  tree  was  of 
course  adopted  from  the  preceding  religions  of  the  Eastern 
countries  where  that  tree  flourishes.  Ciampini,  in  his  Vetera 
Monumenta^  gives  instances  from  the  church  of  Saints  Cosmo  and 
Damian  at  Rome  (6th  century),  where  such  palm-trees  flank  the 
figures  of  Christ  and  his  disciples  ;  and  he  adds  such  a  tree  with  a 
nimbussed  bird  seated  on  the  topmost  palm-leaf.  The  Christian 
palm-leaf,  or  branch  as  we  are  in  the  habit  of  calling  it,  was  also 
adopted  from  the  victorious  emblem  of  former  creeds  ;  and  so  also 
was  the  olive-branch  as  a  symbol  of  peace.  Olive  crowns  had  also 
been  given  to  victors  in  gymnastics,  especially  in  the  Athenian 
games.  David  compared  himself  to  a  green  olive-tree  in  the 
house  of  Elohtm  (Psalm  Hi,  8). 

"  The  sacred  olive-tree  of  the  Academy  was  an  offshoot  of  the 
original  olive  of  the  Athens  Acropolis  with  which  the  life  and 
personality  of  the  Attic  nation  was  mysteriously  bound-up."*  It 
would  seem  that  the  name  of  the  olive-tree  iiopla,  the  mulberry- 
tree  /Mopioy  and  /jb6po<;  fate  destiny,  must  all  be  connected  with  the 
Universe-tree  round  which  the  wheel  of  fate  or  fortune  turns.  This 
is  the  only  way  of  adequately  expounding  Zeus  Morios  ;  for  it  is 
petty  to  make  him  merely  ( — he  fell  to  it  no  doubt — )  the  protector 
of  olive-trees.  He  was  a  Fate-god  as  well,  and  the  central  olive- 
tree  of  the  Acropolis  (see  Index)  was  the  tree  of  fate  as  well.  The 
mulberry  had  the  same  significance  elsewhere,  just  as  the  shrew  or 
mole  ash  was  a  tree  of  luck  or  fortune. 

The  ^cus  Indica  (Banyan  or  Vata,  popularly  Var  for  Vad),  is 
sacred  to  K^la,  that  is  to  Time,*  which  accords  with  my  theories  of 
the  turning  of  the  Universe-tree  being  a  measure  of  Time.  Siva  is 
lord  of  the  Va^a  tree.  (See  what  is  said  p.  317  infra^  as  to 
the  ficus  religtosa.)  In  an  Egyptian  funereal  papyrus  occurs  the 
prayer  "  Homage  to  thee,  my  father  R^,  thy  substances  are  the  fig- 
tree  (Beq.)."*     A  great  figtree  in  fullest  leaf  grows  on  the  top  of  the 

*  Lane's  Thousand  and  One  Nights,  i,  219.        •  Rev,  des  ktudes  Juives,  xi,  97. 

*  Harrison  and  Verrall :  Ancient  Athene ^  599. 

*  Sir  Monier  Williams,  ReL  Thought  and  Life  in  India,  i,  337,  446. 
»  Th.  Dev^ria,  Cat,  MSS.  i&Si,  146. 


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3^4  The  Nigki  of  Urn  Gods.  [Axis 

cliff  of  Charubdj's((9^/^'jix  xii,  roj).  Odusseus  is  saved  by  clinging 
to  it  like  a  bat  (xit,  432},  and  its  roots  spread  i^x  below,  while  its 
brair^ches  hang  aloft  out  of  reach,  long  and  large  and  overs  had  o  win  cr^ 
just  Hke  the  YggDrasill  Ask  The  first  figtree  was  given  by 
Dem^ttrr  to  Phutalos  (the  planter:  ^vm  produce),  in  return  for  his 
hospitality.'  Here  planting  must  have  had  a  physical  sense,  as  in 
Villon's  Jargon,  and  isth  century  French  slang.  This  fig:tree  was 
shown  on  the  Sacred  Way  at  Eleusis,  and  there  was  a  similar 
legend  at  Byzantium,  The  myrtle  was  taboo  in  the  women's  night- 
offerings  to  Bona  Dea, 


TREE  WORSHIP,  The  great  list  of  Edfu^  enumerates 
many  temples  of  sacred  trees  and  groves.  At  An;^'taui,  Life-of-the- 
two-land^,  a  temple  of  Memphis,  were  the  holy  trees  ncb€sz.nAs€ftL 
These  were  also  at  A i  or  pa-Ai  or  Ari  in  the  2nd  name  ;  and 
the  trees  nebes^  sent,  scnta,  shent,  neh-t,  neh,  and  ashet  were  also 
found  at  Aa-tanen,  hct-Mes-Mes  (the  measurer^s  temple,  Le. 
Thoth's),  het-Biu  temple  of  the  Rams  at  Mendes,  and  het-nebe^  or 

aa-nebes    l]^^  jj  ©  °^   "^  J  PO©.  dwelling    of    (the    tree) 
nebes,  which   is  rendered   sycomore.     We  have  also  liet-neh  lAI 

or  y  m  Q  ©  temple  of  the  sycomore  or  of  the  tree,  where   Osiris 

was   worshipped.     (Many  other   words  are  translated  sycomore.) 
Brugsch,  writing  in  1881  of  the  gods  of  the  Arabian  nome,^  sought 

to  identify  a  Tree- town  I  A I  with  the  tree  nebes  J  []  A,  and  to 
call  it  het-nebes, 

A  Sacred  grove  of  neh  and  sent  was  at  ha-se;^un  ;  a  grove  of  an 
unnamed  species  at  Pa-sebek  or  Pa-sui  ;  a  grove  of  ashet,  nebes  and 
senta  at  Aa-n-behu,  where  was  a  tomb  of  Osiris  in  a  grotto  D  |  r^ 
beneath  ashet  trees.     The  tree  ashet  was  also  at  a  (fire?)  temple 

called  Aa  bes  neb-nebat  ^''"^^  J  0  I  '^^^^^  Jfl  @  ^^  Bubastis ;  and 
the  same  tree  (one  of  the  names  rendered  by  persea)  was  in  the 
enclosureof  the"  Phcenix  "-temple het'Bennu  J  ^^  at  An  (Helio- 
polis).     The  Alexandria  obelisk,  which   came  from  An,  mentions 

*  Pnus.  i,  47,  2.  Demeters  A£i>p<i  iry*o^«fiiXoF  (fig-fooJed)  is  here  noticed  by 
F.  LenonrmiiL     He  leave?  it  imeKpouuiied,  vlwA  so  shall  I ;  majji  k  bon  entendeur,  saiul. 

*  (.  de  Rotig^,  Inscripu  ^Edfau,  ^  Ztitschrift  w.  j.  -uk  tSSi,  15* 


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Myths.']  The   Tree-trunk.  3^5 

the  "  holy  tree  ashet  in  the  interior  of  het-Bennu  "   (|  ^  0  ^^ 


Finally*  there  was  in  the  3rd,  the  Mareotic,  nome  the  chief-town 
of  Pa-nebt-Amu,  town  of  (our)  Lady  of  the  date-Palms  ,-.-,000  @ 
and  the  sacred  trees  ^ru  <-^  _vO  ^tnd  tern  a  ^J/k)  were  at  the 

sanctuary  of  M4-ti  or  M^-Mi  ^^  M  ^'^  rr©  ^"  *^  ^^^^ 
town. 

Sacred  trees  were,  in  ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  like  altars  and 
temples,  protected  by  a  walled  sanctuary  called  a  septum  ;  and 
sometimes  enclosed  by  an  unroofed  chapel,  a  sacellum.  The  olive 
of  Ath^n^  on  the  acropolis  of  Athens  was  so  enshrined  by  the 
open-air  temple  of  PanDrosos,^  which,  with  his  name,  seems  to  make 
him  an  All-Tree  god  (see  p.  349  infra),  and  Jupiter's  beech  at 
Rome  stood  in  the  building  called  the  fagutal.  Many  such 
enclosures  may  be  seen  in  the  Pompeian  wall-paintings,  and  on 
the  coins  of  Antoninus  Pius.  A  tree  struck  by  lightning,  was  ipso 
facto  immediately  set  apart  from  the  vulgar  forest,  among  the 
Romans,  as  an  arbor  fulguritica  of  fanatica.* 

The  keremet  or  sacred  sacrificial  enclosure — the  templum  in 
feet — of  the  Ersa  branch  of  the  Mordvin  Finns,  dwelling  between 
the  Oka  and  the  Volga,  which  is  figured  by  Mr.  Abercromby  in  the 
Folk-lore  Journal  (vii,  83),  is  so  like  the  similar  Mahft-vedi  or 
sacrificial  ground  of  the  HindCls  in  Dr.  Eggeling's  version  of  the 
ScUapatha-brdhmanaf  that  I  desire  the  reader  specially  to  compare 
the  two.  In  the  centre  of  the  Keremet  was  the  sacred  oak  or  lime 
tree  into  which  the  chief  sacrificer  (the  vos-atya  ;  atya=s  father  ; 
vos=s  ?  otsu,  great)  climbed,  and  concealed  himself  amid  the  foliage. 
The  vats  of  beer  (pur^)  were  under  the  tree,  and  the  cakes  sus- 
pended to  its  branches.*  The  Ersa  were  heathen  until  the  middle 
of  the  1 8th  century  ;  and  this  elder  up  a  tree  is  a  close  reminder  of 
the  Irish  divinities  in  a  similar  position  (p.  320).  The  Great 
Bear  is  placed  in  the  top  of  The  Tree  by  the  KalevaLa  of  the  Finns.® 

'  J.  de  Roug^,  Giog.  Anc.  i8gi,  ^ssim,  •  Botticher,  BaurruuUus,  153. 

•  Servius  on  jEneid,  vi,  72  ;  Paulus  Diac.  92,  295. 

*  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  xxvi,  475.  The  "  Utiarawedi "  of  the  plan  of  this  MahA- 
vedi  shows  me  that  the  *'  £  **  point  of  the  plan  should  be  (or  once  was)  the  N. 

*  Folk-lore  Journal,  vii,  93. 

•  Schiefner's  version,  x,  31,  42  (in  Paradise  Found,  27*^). 


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3^6  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

When  an  orade  was  given  in  the  sacred  forest  of  Juno  on  the  Esquiline 
hill,  the  tops  of  the  trees  were  agitated,  according  to  Ovid.  The  phrase  "  at  the 
top  of  the  tree,"  which  is  still  so  common  popularly  for  the  position  of  a  successful 
man,  can,  I  think,  be  expounded  only  from  the  archaically  first  position  of  the 
higher  Universe  gods  at  the  top  of  the  Universe-tree.  Otherwise,  the  top  of  a 
tree  is  not  a  pleasant  pitch  for  any  human  being,  not  even  for  a  primeval  tree- 
man. 

Hushaby  baby,  on  the  tree-top  ; 

When  the  wind  blows  the  cradle  will  rock  ; 

When  the  tree  shakes  the  cradle  will  fall, 

And  down  comes  baby,  cradle,  and  all. 
M.  Charles  Rabot,  in  his  A  travers  POural  et  la  SibMe^  gives  an  account 
of  "  the  k^r^m^tes  or  sacred  woods  of  the  Ostiaks,  in  which  they  immolate 
domestic  animals  [sacrificially  butcher  their  meat  in  fact]  before  rude  idols." 
The  k^r^m^te  seen  by  M.  Rabot  was  a  clearing  in  a  wood  on  a  river's  bank 
near  the  village  of  Sukkeria-Paoul  at  the  foot  of  the  Ourals.  The  gods  were 
represented  by  some  pine-trunks  surrounded  by  a  mass  of  rags  of  glaring 
colours.  On  one  side  was  a  little  hut  which  sheltered  two  big  dolls  made  out  of 
strips  of  cloth  rolled  round  and  round  each  other.  The  faces  were  formed  of  a 
piece  of  yellow  stuff  pierced  with  four  holes  for  the  eyes,  nose,  and  mouth. 
Alongside  the  idols  were  the  hoofs  of  horses,  which  had  been  sacrificed  in 
honour  of  the  gods.  On  a  tree  hung  a  tambourine  which  the  priests  (chamanes) 
beat  when  invoking  the  spirits. 

It  was  in  the  forest  of  the  Teutberg  that,  in  A.D.  9,  the  Germans 
under  that  very  **  Arminius  *'  or  Hermann  to  whom  the  Irminsul 
legends  (p.  293  suprd)^  are  falsely  attributed— for  of  course  he  was 
named  after  the  god — There  it  was,  at  the  modern  Winfeld  (victory- 
field  T)  that  the  Cherusci  ffrom  whom  came  the  Hermiones) 
extinguished  the  famous  legions  of  Varus.  When  Germanicus  six 
years  later  devastated  that  region,  and  buried  the  bleaching  bones 
of  three  legions,  he  found  the  heads  of  the  dead  fixed  on  the  tree- 
trunks  :  truncis  arborum  antefixa  ora.^  This  recalls  the  Turkish 
legend  of  the  tree  ZakQn  which  bears  skulls  for  fruits.* 

Buddha  is  said  to  have  occupied  trees  forty-three  times  in  the 
course  of  his  transmigrations.*  Egyptian  metempsychosis  also,  of 
course,  embraced  the  vegetable  kingdom  {PereniAru,  81).  In 
the  Siamese  Life  of  Buddha,  he,  on  attaining  omniscience 
adores  from  the  East  and  from  the  North  the  great  holy  Bo-tree. 
This  is  the  Sanskrit  Bodhi  or  Wisdom-tree,  the  Plpal ;  the  term 
bodhi,  applied   to   the   penetrating  wisdom  of  a  Buddha,  being 

*  /^evue  EncycL  ii,  82  (Janvier  1892) ;  i,  870. 

^  TaciL  Ann,  i,  61. 

'  Paravey,  Astron,  HiirogL  76  (cited  in  SchlegeVs  Uranog.  Chi,  682). 

*•  Sir  Monier  Williams,  ReL  TTiought  and  Life  in  India,  i,  331. 


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AfytAs,']  The   Tree-trunk.  3^7 

referred  to  a  word  budh,  to  penetrate.  So  says  Alabaster*  ;  but  as 
there  is  little  doubt  that  the  World-tree  is  here  in  question,  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  penetrating  permeating  idea  is  to  be  regarded — if 
it  is  to  be  admitted  at  all — as  the  primary  one  in  this  tree-name. 
The  East  taking  precedence  in  the  adoration,  denotes  the  predomi^ 
nance  of  Sun-worship. 

The  bo-tree  of  Ceylon  is  the  bodhi-druma  or  wisdom-tree  of  India,  under 
which  Buddha  attained  enlightenment.'  Of  course  they  say  no  HindO  will  tell 
a  lie  under  a  pi  pal  tree — if  he  can  avoid  it  (that  is,  the  tree).  Pippala  (berry) 
refers  especially  to  the  berry  or  fruit  of  the  ficus  religiosa* ;  and  the  Sanskrit 
pippali  reappears  in  Greek  as  niirtpi  (Lat.  piper)  pepper.  Prof  Max  Miiller  in 
his  Vedic  Hymns^  translates  pippala  as  apple,  and  the  expression  pippalam 
rushat,  ^  red  apple,  which  occurs  in  the  RigVeda^  v,  54,  12,  may  thus  contain 
not  alone  our  word  russet,  but  also  pippin  and  apple  ? 

The  tulast,  tulsi,  or  holy  Basil,  ocimuni  sanctum,  in  whose  midst 
are  all  the  deities,  and  in  whose  upper  branches  are  all  the  Vedas, 
must  be  given  a  foremost  rank  among  trees  that  are  still  wor- 
shipped. Hindfl  women  are  at  this  moment  perpetually  per- 
ambulating such  shrubs  as  pot-plants  in  the  interior  of  their 
houses.'  For  the  illiterate  Hindfi  women  it  is  a  handy  symbol, 
a  devotional  manual  as  one  might  say,  of  the  divine  Universe-tree. 
Flowers  and  rice  are  offered  to  it,  and  it  is  married  to  the  idol  of  the 
youthful  Krishna  in  every  HindCl  family  every  year  in  the  month 
K^rttika  (see  Index).  A  plant  of  it  is  also  placed  at  the  foot  of  the 
village  pipal-tree,  and  the  poorest  women,  who  have  none  at  home,  go 
there  for  their  soul's  constitutional.®  In  Sicily  the  Basil  is  revered 
and  kept  in  the  house-windows  for  luck,  which  reminds  one  of  the 
local  story  of  "  Isabella  and  the  pot  of  Basil,"  a  fine  picture  of 
Mr.  Holman  Hunt's. 

In  early  Christian  symbolism,  the  "  lily,"  as  experts  call  it,  is  "  not  always 
very  accurately  defined."  On  painted  glass  it  sometimes  appears  as  "  a  little, 
tree  or  bush,  without  blossoms."^  This  must  I  think  be  viewed  as  a  parallel  to 
the  tulasi  shrub  of  the  Hindis. 

[We  shall  return  to  this  under  the  head  of  *'  Circular  Worship  " 
in  Vol.  II.] 

An  acacia  was  the  principal  object  of  worship  with  the  Khoreish 

*  Wheel  of  the  Law^  xxx  to  xxxii,  161. 

*  See  also  Sir  M.  Williams,  HindMsm,  1880,  p.  75 ;  and  Prof.  Rhys  Davids, 
BuddhisMy  1880,  p.  39. 

'  Sat.-brdhm,  (J.  Eggeling)  ii,  170.  ^  1891,  p.  49a. 

*  Sir  Monier  Williams,  Rel,  Thought  and  Life  in  India,  i,  333,  334,  39a. 

*  Miss  Gordon  Cumming's  Himalayas  and  Ind,  Plains,  584. 
'  Twining's  Early  Christian  Art,  1885,  p.  197. 


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3'8  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  {Axis 

tribe  of  Arabs.  Khaled,  by  Mahomefs  orders^  cut  it  down  to  the 
roots  and  put  its  priestess  to  death.^  Two  capitularies  of  Char- 
lemagne (A.D.  789  and  794)  forbad  the  worship  of  stones,  wells, 
and  trees  ;  ordered  the  Christian  priests  to  get  the  sacred  trees  and 
woods  destroyed ;  and  treated  as  insane  those  who  burnt  candles 
or  went  through  other  ceremonies  to  them.  The  ecclesiastical 
Councils  of  Agde,  Auxerre,  Nantes,  and  others  had  to  renew  these 
prohibitions.*  As  late  as  the  13th  century  Helmoldus  said  the 
Saxons  still  worshipped  wells  and  trees.* 

These  last  records  give  us  an  all-powerful  motive  for  the 
fatal  destruction  of  European  foresj:s ;  but  it  is  only  fair  to 
add  that  the  civil  power  was  not  loth  to  aid  in  this  almost  cosmic 
crime,  because  of  the  refuge  which  endless  forests  afforded  to 
the  bagaudae  and  ribauds  of  the  past.  The  cupidity  and 
wastefulness  of  man,  according  as  the  sedentary  populations 
increased,  must  also  bear  the  greatest  share  of  the  blame. 
Nevertheless  survivals  of  the  holy  groves  are  to  l)e  traced. 
"  Every  one  does  not  know,"  writes  Sir  Monier  Williams,  "  that 
there  existed  quite  recently  a  particular  qak-copse  in  the  island 
of  Skye,  which  the  inhabitants  held  inviolably  sacred."*  The 
sacred  groves  in  Ireland  in  the  3rd  century  were  called  fidhneimadh,* 
and  see  p.  271  supra.  In  the  7th  century  St.  Eloi  had  to  forbid  the 
making  of  vows  at  trees,  or  driving  the  flocks  through  a  hollow 
tree,  or  in  any  way  honouring  trees.*  The  council  of  Leptines  in 
Hainault  in  742  forbad  sacrifices  called  nimidas  to  be  made  in  forests. 
The  Hessians,  who  lived  on  the  lower  Rhine  in  the  8th  century, 
when  they  were  christened  by  St  Boniface,  still  then  adored  a 
tree-trunk  which  was  their  symbol  of  Thor :  robur  Jovis  sive  Thori 
deastri'  (robur  meant  strength,  pillar,  oak,  as  well  as  tree-trunk). 

Pausanias  (viii,  4)  recorded  tliat  the  tomb  of  Alkmai6n  at 
Psophis  was  surrounded  by  lofty  cypresses  which  could  not  be 
cut  down,  and  they  were  called  Virgins  by  the  natives.  Until 
about  1872  no  one  in  Orissa  dare  plant  a  cocoa-nut  tree  except  a 
Br^hmaa*    Vanin  means  tree  in  tl\e  Rig  Veda  {i^  39,  3  ;  vii,  56,  25), 

>  Dulaure  :  CulUs  (abr^^)  i,  65.  »  Capitul  ii,  269,  255. 

■  Chronic,  Sax.  Helmoldiiy  c.  lo,  p.  io6  (in  Dulaure). 

<  ReL  Thought  and  Life  in  India^  i,  330.  *  Petrie's  Irish  Arckit.  62,  63. 

•  De  Baecker  Relig,  Nord  France y  316,  317,  319. 

7  Eckart,  De  redui  FranHa^  p.  344. 

'  Hunter's  Orissa^  ii,  141. 


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AfythsP^  The  Tree-trunk.  3^9 


and  vanin  also  means  worshipful  (i,  64,  12).  The  Japanese  Shintd 
priests,  vested  in  white,  exorcise  by  waving  branches  of  trees.^ 

At  Tenby  and  elsewhere  in  Wales  existed  a  custom  of  the  people 
whipping  each  other's  legs  with  holly  branches  on  26th  December, 
and  this  was  sometimes  done  until  the  blood  ran  down.*  Here  we 
have  a  survival  of  the  milder  substitute  for  total  human  sacrifice 
which  is  found  all  over  the  world  under  the  form  of  ritualistic 
bleeding  (see  "The  Barber's  Pole,"  p.  301  supra),  and  which  even 
still  survives  in  the  "  discipline "  self-inflicted  by  devoutly  ascetic 
Christians,  and  the  eccentricities  of  the  moslem  Rufai  (our  Howl- 
ing) dervishes.  The  Welsh  use  of  holly  is  typical,  and  it  still  holds 
its  holiness  with  us  as  a  house-decor^ition  c^t  the  feasts  of  the  winter 
solstice.  The  spellings  holin  and  holie  occur  in  the  A?tcren  Riwle 
(Rule  of  Anchorites,  circa  1230)  p.  418,  but  the  cjerivation  of  the 
word  from  a  root  kul  =  hul  is  scarcely  convincing. 

In  the  Forest  of  Dean  was  a  mine-law  court  held  before  the 
constable  of  St.  Bpavels.  The  parties  and  witnesses  to  a  suit  were 
sworn  upon  ^  Bible  into  which  a  piece  of  holly  stick  was  put,  and 
they  wore  their  hooff  or  n^ining-cap  during  examination.  Here 
we  have  an  oath,  with  the  head  covered,  taken  on  sacred  wood. 
The  Bible  must  have  been  an  addition.®  This  oath  has  been 
traced  back  to  at  least  the  13th  century,  and  another  storian  says 
they  "  touched  the  book  of  the  four  gospels  with  a  stick  of  holly, 
and  the  Sf^me  stick  was  usually  employed,  being  by  long  usage 
consecrated  to  the  purpose."*  I  take  these  interesting  particulars 
from  Mr.  E.  S.  Hartland's  excellent  County  Folk-lore  (i,  39)  now  in 
course  of  issue  by  the  devoted  Folk-Lore  Society  ;  and  I  add  that 
this  oath  is  like  the  Hindi's  oath  in  our  Indian  courts  of  justice, 
which  is  taken  on  a  bottle  of  Ganges  water,  upon  which  a  branch  of 
the  sacred  tulasi  basil  is  laid.^  Mr.  Hartland  has  also  collected  the 
curious  fact  that  in  the  Vale  of  Gloucester  the  hedgers  and  ditchers 
will  not  faggot  the  Elder  boughs,  saying  no  one  ever  heard  of  such 
a  thing  as  burning  Elian  wood — so  they  call  it ;  and  they  carry 
about  them  a  natural  cross,  obtained  by  cutting  a  branch  above  and 


^  Chamberlain's  Things  /apatuse^  91. 

'  Southey*5j  Common  Place  Book,   185 1,  p.  365  14th  series).     Mason's  Tales  and 
Traditions  of  Tenby,  1858,  p.  5. 

»  Rudder's  Hist.  Gloucester^h,  1779,  pp.  32,  33. 

*  NichoU's  Acct,  of  the  Forest  of  Dean,  1858,  p.  149. 

*  Miss  Gordon  Cumming's  Himalayas  and  Indian  Plains,  570,  514. 


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320  The  Night  of  the  Gods.  [Axis 

below  two  side-shoots,  as  a  charm  against  rheumatism.^  But  were 
I  to  print  all  the  facts  of  this  nature  that  I  have  amassed,  the 
quantity  of  them  would  merely  confuse. 


THE  ROWAN  TREE.  The  Gaelic  name  of  the  rowan  is 
caerthainn,  and  its  earthly  origin  is  related  in  the  Pursuit  of 
Diarmait  and  Crania,  The  divine  De  Dananns  brought  its  berries 
from  their  celestial  Land  of  Promise,  Tir  Tairmgire  (which  name 
seems  permutable  with  Inis-Manann,  the  mythic  Isle  of  Man),  and 
they  fed  upon  them.  As  they  passed  through  the  wood  of  Dooros 
(Old  Irish  daur  tree  oak)  one  scarlet  berry  fell  to  Earth,  and  from 
it  sprang  up  in  a  vast  wilderness  a  great  tree  which  had  all  the 
virtues  of  its  celestial  double.  Its  berries  tasted  of  honey,  eating 
of  them  cheered  like  old  mead,  and  if  a  man  had  reached  the  age 
of  a  hundred  he  reverted  to  his  thirtieth  year  at  his  third  berry.  This 
of  course  is  a  straight  parallel  to  the  haoma,  and  to  the  Chinese 
peaches,  p.  305  supra  ;  and  the  red  berries  are  even  a  reminder  of  the 
pippalam  rusat,  p.  317.  The  berries  on  the  summit  of  the  Rowan- 
tree — it  is  ever  so,  in  spite  of  the  fox — were  sweetest ;  those  on 
the  lowest  branches  being  bitter  in  comparison.  It  was  guarded  by 
a/^w«/r  giant  of  the  North  called  Sharvan  {searbhan^  surly?),  with 
one  broad  red  fiery  eye  in  the  middle  of  his  black  forehead  (a 
Cyclops) ;  he  had  his  hut  up  among  the  branches  of  the  tree. 
Finn  sends  an  Angus  and  an  Aedh  (flame)  to  get  him  a  handful 
of  the  berries ;  but  Grania  longs  for  them,  and  Diarmait  kills 
Searbhan,  obtains  the  berries,  and  lives  with  Grania  in  the  fomuir's 
hut  [Compare  the  mistletoe  (and  the  sun)  on  the  Universe-tree, 
p.  325  infra!]  Another